The Hunger Games  Through the Fire and Flames
by Bella Leigh Snow
Summary: Takes place after the first book  Aloe Mellark is the daughter to Katniss and Peeta. With her 12th birthday nearing and the Hunger Games soon after the family is on edge. Though it is only her first time to the reaping Katniss and Peeta feel that the odds may be rigged and President Snow may finally have his chance to make them pay for the havock they caused all those years ago.
1. Chapter 1

The story of my mother and father's duo victory for District 12 during the time of their generations games were part of our District history. In class every single year we learned about it and they even came in to give a bit of a speech. The way my mother and father look at one another you wouldn't be able to guess that they married first and fell in love later. When they went into the Hunger Games my father had one secret that it took my mother the longest time to comprehend even after she revealed it. My father was in love with my mother from the moment he laid eyes on her as a child. Long after the Games had ended my father and mother married in order to keep family and friends from certain death. It took 6 months for my mother to realize she loved my father and another 6 months for her to confess it. 9 months from that point my brother River was born.

River resembles our grandmother from our dad's side with her green eyes and dark hair. River is built like my father and has a lot of his talent, one of them making cakes and painting. My older brother River shares the same birthday as myself just 3 years apart. This year he will be turning 15.

Though I have my infamous parents I am not popular at the slightest. I spend my time reading books about survival, hunting, building bows and arrows, and even some about plants and cooking. For some reason I took a great deal of interest in this sort of stuff and I believe it has to do with my mother and her skills that helped her to survive.

I spent a lot more time with my mother because we had a lot of things in common. She taught me everything I couldn't learn from my books. How to cook without a kitchen was the most interesting because it also came with scavenging and identifying edible berries and roots. Apart from that I learned how to hunt and set traps then soon after how to skin and gut my game. Lastly she taught me how to find shelter and even make it out nothing.

The time I spent with my father was when I wanted to cook with him which I enjoyed. He had started several businesses over the last 13 years. One of them was a few branches of art galleries that reside in the richer districts. That is where he sold his paintings that were images of his worst nightmares, his time in the Hunger Games. The fact that they were from his view made them all the more interesting, his other business was a bakery. During the weekdays my father would be baking and every now and then I helped. Weekends with my dad were the best since he sometimes takes his time to teach me some of his skills, more interestingly his expertise in camouflage.

Apart from those few things I have in common with my father I have a few more, though they are genetic. I have my father's blonde hair and his blue eyes. My mother tells me all the time that she is happy I take after dad in my looks only because she doesn't think she is pretty, which she is. The only down side is that I am the tallest in my class by 5 inches and considered freakishly tall.

This week was going to be a good one even though the annual Hunger Games was the day after my brother and I had our birthday. How unfortunate that is for my family, more so my brother and I. This year my brother will have been entered for his 4th time for me it will be my first. Many people used to think you never got picked on your first reaping or even you're second or third. The day my aunt Prim was chosen and my mother stepped forward proved anyone that thought that way wrong.

I couldn't deny how nervous I was growing with each passing day, it showed clearly on my face every time someone mentioned the upcoming Hunger Games. My mother and father were more nervous than I was and I knew why only because they never kept secrets from my brother and me.

My mother and father suspect that President Snow wants to rig the Reaping so my brother and I go against one another in the nearing Games. They think that he is going to also rig the game so that my brother and I have to fight each other at the end. They say he likes a good game. Just the fact alone that he is still holding a grudge against them for the riots and mayhem their defiance during the Games caused was enough to convince me. After all I am 11 years old not an idiot.

Ever since the date for the Hunger Games was announced my mother and father had been putting aside as much time as they could to help us train and prepare for a possible fight in the Hunger Games. There was so much they had to teach my brother. For me though I was just perfecting my already known skills. Just like my father my brother was good at hand in hand combat, lifting weights, and camouflage. If we got picked or at least one of us did we might have a chance.

I stood in my large back yard with my bow pulled back and loaded with an arrow. Just like my mother taught me I had my hand touching my chin to use it as a balance. I stared down the length of the yard at the apples that hung on their branches and let out a breath before I released the pull back. I froze to watch my arrow soar quickly down the length of the yard and penetrate an apple dead center before lodging it into the tree trunk. I smiled.

"That is very good" My mother said to me. She turned to my brother and complimented him as well as he hit an apple as well.

"What do you need to remember when creating your camouflage" father asked me.

This was one of the many things my father and mother loved to do. Pop quizzes on our survival skills. My father had revealed the answer to this question just 4 1/2 days ago. I even remember what we were doing as he expressed his great knowledge to me.

"Surrounding, weather, backdrop, colors" I said confidently as I launched my next arrow hitting a cherry from our cherry tree.

When it came to survival you needed to know your surrounding. Its different if you are remaining in one place but if you were moving around you needed to make sure your camouflage blended in. Weather was the obvious as if you were in rain or humidity you could lose the color to your camouflage and your chances of being found would rise. Talking about back drops were my fathers favorite since he gets to talk about how he camouflaged himself during the games. If you are hurt or immobile your best bet would be to camouflage yourself to blend in with a still backdrop. Lastly the color scheme, it was pretty obvious that any bright colors in a neutral setting would raise red flags all across the board. Camouflage was used for several reasons, my father used it to hide himself when he was wounded to the point of almost dying and my mother used it to keep her brightly colored back pack from giving her position away.

"Correct" My father said before he pulled my mother into his arms here they shared a kiss.

I wanted to make sure that when I was picked - no doubt I wouldn't - that I would be able to survive. There was no way in hell that I would let them think they would get to watch me suffer and die. Just like my parents I would take control and show them I am a survivor.


	2. Chapter 2

For my family the week passed on ever so slowly. My mother and father were on edge more than ever and it drove me insane. They pulled both me and my brother out of school for the last three days to throw in some extra hours of practice which I didn't mind but my brother sure did.

My brother still hadn't been able to master his archery so father pushed him into spearing which he was a natural at. I honestly didn't understand why they didn't start him out on that. He was strong, agile and could turn a stone into a lethal weapon by throwing it at speeds up to 85 mph. I know this only because I was once accidentally on the recieving end of one of those small rocks. It hit my arm and went straight through and out the other end. Surprisingly it missed all my bones and major arteries.

I just keep thinking about the Games. Mom says that they always want a good game and that always gets my mind going. I could only think of one way to insure a good game and I didn't like it. Because of my mother and fathers duo victory they would be the mentors for the next tributes of District 12. If my brother and I were picked then my mother and father would be our mentors. If they were our mentors that would ensure hefty amounts of sponsors meaning the two of us would most likely make it to the end meaning a battle against the son and daughter of the District 12 champions.

The day of my and my brothers birthday was the same as every year. We had a massive dinner with many dishes. Like my mother I loved the lamb stew with dried plums it had an amazing taste with a bit of a kick in it. My brother like the goosling and my dads goat cheese bread. After dinner we finished with a small cake that my father made himself it was really sweet but thats how we like them. We ate until our stomachs threatened to burst and then finished with a bit of survival trivia. Like always I tied with my mother but won with the tie breaker question.

That night I settled into bed. Nervous for the next days events I didn't sleep one bit. Instead I stayed up and read a new book my mother had brought home this too was also about survival but on a whole new set of terms. It talked about killing and creating weapons. The interesting part was about how to create the perfect spot to ensure survival amongst the wildest creatures. As I turned to the last page and read it I realized the sun was rising and knew it was time to get up. In just 4 short hours everyone between the ages of 12 and 18 would be lining up in the square where they would call up the tributes for District 12.

I headed out of my room to go and get a bite to eat and found my father, mother and brother sitting at the table staring at nothing inperticular. I joined them. They were like this every year the morning of the Reaping since my brother turned 12. Now it was my turn to join them. None of us knew exactly what was going to happen today in that square but the four of us had a good idea.

I couldn't eat. I was no longer hungry. I sat in that spot for the longest time not even bothering to get dressed until my mother had to pull me into the other room. Still I felt parylzed. I was too disraught to move. My mother helped dress me and fix my hair and then I resumed my zombie state until it was time to go.

My mother, father, brother and I made the long walk to the square. Gale joined us half way with his 12 year old daughter Lia, my best friend. Lia was the only child of Gale. Gale became widowed when his wife died giving birth. From that day on Gale did everything he could to protect his daughter but today his protection wouldn't work. After all this days events were out of his control. I lightened up a bit once Lia joined me and we skipped together along the tracks that led into the square.

"Are you afraid?" Lia asked me.

That was a good question. I was unsure of how I felt. It had to be a mixture of shock, fright, nerves and about 15 other emotions that I never knew I had let alone what they were. Slowly but surely I nodded my head up and down a few times.

"I'm scared too." She replied. "You don't have to worry its only our first year."

I stopped in my tracks and looked at her. Did she really just say that? After the many times I told her about my aunt being picked. Maybe she didn't comprehend because my mother and father were the champions of that year. That was all anyone ever heard anyways.

"Yeah, first year." I replied in a emotionless tone.

The rest of our walk was more silence then anything. The only sounds that were made were when the gravel crunched under our feet. Apart from that it was pretty quiet. 15 minutes later we broke into the square that was set up for the Reaping. We stopped at the mouth of the square and looked around. Just like every year it had the stage where the names were called from. The table where we were to sign up and the two seperate lines of boys and girls who stood rigidly waiting for it to begin.

I watched as my brother walked forward to sign in. I didn't want to go by myself so I grabbed Lia's arm and towed her with me over to the table. I signed up and then waited for Lia before we headed over to our line. We would be near the front since the lines and rows were by ages. The youngest in the front and the oldest in the back. The same every year.

I don't know how long we stood there in our spots. The moment I got into my spot I checked completely out and just spaced. I didn't notice when a woman with bright green hair joined the state. When her sickly voice spoke I jumped. I looked around and saw everyone looking like they had just witnessed a death. In reality who ever was chosent today might aswell be dead since there were rarely ever champions from District 12. The last champions were my very own mom and dad.

"Welcome all to the 91st Annual Hunger Games." The green haired woman spoke.

Those were the only words I heard her spoke until she announced it was time to choose the girl and boy tribute. Unlike my father and mother we didn't have to put our names in for extra food. That gave me a little bit of hope that my brother and I wouldn't be chosen because there were thousands of other names in amongst ours. Then I think about my aunt Prim and her one entry going against her.

"The tribute for the girls will be-" I took a deep breath as Lia took my hand into hers and held it tight. "Lia Hawthorne."

Slowly I turned my head to look at Lia. Her face was drowned in terror as two peacekeepers came and took towed her away towards the stage. Everything happened in slow motion, or atleast it did for me. The green haired lady looked around before she spoke again.

"Are there any volunteers to step up and take her place?" The green haired lady spoke.

I gulped nervously as I watched Lia, my best friend. I knew everything about her and knew with her lack of skills -which were none at all- would get her killed in mere seconds. I turned my head hoping that someone would volunteer but no one would. Closing my eyes I took a deep breath and stepped forward.

"I volunteer" I spoke. My head held high. I walked forward to the stage and stood beside my best friend.

"And who are you dear?" the woman asked me.

"Aloe Mellark."

The peace keepers sent Lia back to her spot in the safety of the crowd and the ceremony continued on.

"The tribute for the boys of District 12 will be-" The lady paused as she dug her hand around in the bowl for the males. She pulled out a strip of paper and smoothed it out straight. "-River Mellark."

I heard the crowd gasp as I was certain they made the connection and realized he was my brother. I watched him slowly walk up to the stage and stand beside me. Without hesitation he took my hand into his.

"Wonderful!" The green haired lady spoke. "This game should be the best. The son and daughter of our last District 12 champions competing against each other."

This lady was making me want to vomit. She spoke of our Reaping as if it was something to be happy about. I wanted to slap her as if she was going into hysterics but there was no way a slap to the face could cure ignorance.

I took a deep breath as I looked at my brother who just looked at me. Our families greatest fears had come true.


	3. Chapter 3

After the long speech given by the mayor and my parents (our mentors) came up and reintroduced themselves with the addition of the regular speech that told about there time in the arena we were whisked off to Justice building where we said our goodbyes to family and friends. Since our parents were going to be with us we were just waiting on any of our friends if they cared to say what would most likely be their last goodbye.

One minute into the wait my brothers girlfriend Seta came in. I had seen her in the crowd near the front during the reaping dressed in a white dress that my brother had gotten her for as a birthday present three months ago. She still looked sickly and even had her hand rested on her stomach as if she had a stomach ache. Seta wrapped her arms around my brother and they began whispering to one another. After a few moments a shocked expression flickered across my brothers face and he pulled his girlfriend closer into his arms.

My attention was then stolen by the company that had just entered the room. It was Gale and he was holding his daughter in his arms. The two were in tears as they walked over to me.

Gale cleared his throat before he spoke "Thank you for what you did back there in the square. I'm forever greatful that you stepped up in my daughters place." Gale set his daughter to her feet and brought me into hug.

The moment he let me go Lia ran into my arms crying. "Why did you do that why did you step up." she shrieked at me.

I stepped back and looked her directly in her eyes. "Because I couldn't let you go into the Games you wouldn't last a second and you know it."

After those words we embraced and held onto each other until it was time to go. The peacekeepers that came to retrieve our visitors had to pry Lia away from me. Once she was loose her father picked her up into his arms and carried her from the room. I knew I would never forget her screams as she was reaching out for me.

My brother joined my side, his face was pink and it was clear that he had been crying. He took my hand and we followed my parents out of the building to a car that took us to the train. My mother, father, brother and myself sat in a compartment that was filled with food of many colors sitting around on platters. I glanced at the food momentarily because the colors caught my attention and then I just resorted to staring at the floor.

The green haired woman who I soon found out was named Vendetta joined us and began talking about sponsors and promotions and a bunch of things I didn't care about. My mother and father jumped in every now and then to discuss our skills and tactics and what they thought would be the best way to grab the eyes of the sponsors. But as soon as they were done making a point or suggestion they fell silent.

Night fell as we were passing through District 4 and I knew by tomorrow morning we would be in the Capitol. That night my family didn't sleep in the cabins with their luxurious beds and fluffy pillows but in each others arms. I was cradled in my brothers lap while my mother and father sat on our sides. That night I dreamt of my coming out of the tube to the field where the games began. I looked around and saw beside me my brother. Suddenly I woke up.

My father was peering out the windows when he saw me wake up. "Breakfast is being served if either of you are hungry" he spoke. "I'm about to head on over myself."

I looked at him and shook my head. "I'm not hungry dad."

My dad pulled me to my feet and got on his knees to look into my eyes. "You should eat you are going to need the strength." he looked my brother. "You too River you are the oldest, make a good example for your sister."

Without a second of hesitation my brother got to his feet and took my hand before towing me to the diner car. I sat down beside my brother and leaned into his arms. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close. Suddenly he began crying.

I looked up at him "What is it?" I asked worridly.

"Everything Aloe. This is all complicated, its completely unfair." River rose to his feet and stormed out of the room leaving me to myself.

What was wrong with him? I mean sure I understand the fight to the death and the fact he'd be competing against me but it never seemed to bother him like this before. He seemed to change once he spoke to his girlfriend in the Justice building. Did they break up? Was Seta unable to handle the stress of her boyfriend being in the arena. Did she want to cut all emotional bonds with him?

My mother and father walked into the room and took their seats beside me before they pulled a plate to themselves and began filling it with different foods from various plates.

My mother went to take a bite but then lowered her fork. "Where is your brother?" she asked me.

I placed my hands in my lap and sat back in my chair. "He freaked out and walked out of the room." I said before taking a cup of orange juice my father handed to me.

My mother exchanged a worried glance at my father. "I'll go and talk to him." she said as she got to her feet and headed from the dining car.

I was left to the company of my father, he looked to be deep in thought as he took bites from a biscuit. His eyes were puffy and red with the absence of tears, it was like he was holding them back.

"Daddy" I said in a quiet tone.

He looked up at me and then quickly looked away. "Aloe" he whispered.

I got up from the table and moved to sit in his lap. "I'll be fine." I said as I wrapped my arms around him and leaned into his chest. He brought his hands up and secured them around me as well.

He pressed his lips to my forehead. "Of course you will" he choked out. "You are so much like your mother and she survived, against the odds she survived.

The day passed on slowly and my mother was unable to get my brother to talk to her. The three of us sat in the cabin and watched as the Capitol came into view. I was growing more nervous with every second. Before I could grasp my emotions the train had come to a stop and I was being ushered onto a platform with my parents and we were on our way to the remake center. The moment we entered into the building a pair of peace keepers took me away from my parents.

I was being escorted down a long hall before being pushed into a room. The room had several others in it and all of them were taller than myself. I turned and began hitting on the door to try and escape. Seconds later several hands grabbed me and pulled me back. I twisted and turned, flailing my arms to try and get loose, but I was unsuccessful. What was happening? Did the Games already begin? Suddenly I was placed into a chair and a dark skinned man appeared before me.

He was unknown to me and I didn't like the unknown especially when they could possibly be the death of me. "Please don't hurt me" I gasped, "Just give me a fair chance to live." I begged further

Sure it was childish and pathetic to plead for my life but I didn't think it was fair that they would start and not give me a fair chance.

The dark man knelt down before me and place his hands on either side of my shoulders. "Relax I'm not going to hurt you. I'm your stylist. My name is Cinna."

I took a deep breath and allowed my body to relax a bit. "My stylist?" I said breathlessly.

He nodded his head. "I'm here to help you make an impression." he said with a bit of a smile.

He was here to help me make an impression. My mind automatically moved to the sponsors, we needed to grab there attention. How good was this man at grabbing others attention. For the sake of my and my brothers life I hoped he was as good as the Capitol people when standing before District 12's norms.


	4. Chapter 4

I sat in a chair watching as several people talked about what to do with my image. It was clear that this was a big deal. I listened closely and was shocked when I heard them speak of lighting me on fire. The dark skinned man walked back over to me and sat in the chair to face me.

"You are going to light me on fire I heard you talking." I said to him.

He steepled his fingers as he looked at me with interest. "You don't trust me" He spoke to me. Normally this would be a question one would ask another but he said it as if it was fact.

"I'm sorry if that offends you but I don't exactly know you sir. Trust is gained not given." I said plainly

He sat back in his chair and crossed his legs. The entire time his eyes were on me. "Your mother is a good friend of mine. She hasn't changed much, still as beautiful and youthful like the bud of a rose." He paused as he went into a thought. His eyes glanced up at me several times before he finally spoke. "I know exactly what I am going to do with you." He rose to his feet and snapped his fingers. "I want her hair lighter, paler like her fathers. No make up, hair in a crown of braids and I need the suits from the 74th Hunger Games. Tailor them to fit this child and her brother right away." He snapped his fingers impatiently before he walked away.

Suddenly I was enclosed by several people who were touching my hair, waxing me and plucking my eyes brows.

"Is all this necessary?" I asked as I winced from a strip ripping away my leg hair.

"Yes it is." Cinna spoke. I guess I didn't realize that he had appeared beside me. "You will be like that of a diamond once I am done with you. Every one is going to want to sponsor you."

I sighed as I listened to his words. I closed my eyes as I waited for them to be finished. Why am I here, I thought to my self. Then my mind went back to Lia's name being pulled from the rest. Honestly I just thought it was a survival game not a debutane of sorts. What is with all the perfecting and primping.

"Did my mother have to go through this?" I asked him as he brought me to my feet and people began undressing me before bounding on me with a black suit of some foreign material. My fashion sense was just as good as my mothers and that was saying alot.

Cinna didn't answer right away which bothered me a bit. Did everyone seem snobby and distant or was it the fact he was stuck with Distrcit 12. As if he read my mind, or expression - I'm practically an open book - he began speaking.

"When I met your mother she was just as you are, a bit unsure about what me and my team were all about.-" He began as he began putting some last minute hems and touches on the collar of the black outfit I was wearing. "-She was in disbelief when I revealed to her that I had specifically chosen to work for the District 12 tributes. I could read on her face that she didn't like all the things she went through but she accepted it with open arms because she knew it was what she had to do. You can trust me just as your mother and father did Aloe" he finished.

I nodded my head. "I'm sorry if I offended you."

He stepped back and looked at me before his serious face turned up a smile. Slowly he walked a circle around me before he stopped in front of me again. "You don't ever have to worry about offending me." He walked forward and took my hand. "Your chariot awaits." with a small spin he towed me gently out of the room and down the elevator to a room that seemed to be at the bottom of the capitol building.

Before I could blink a pair of strong arms wrapped themselves around me and then two more sets. I blinked several times nervously before I realized it was my mother, father and brother embracing me.

"Are you okay?" My brother asked me.

I nodded my head. My father looked at both me and my brother with a serious look upon his face. After this moment you will be known by everyone and wanted by many. My job... our job-" He corrected as he looked to my mother. "-is to make sure you get sponsors. In order to do that we need to make a lasting impression."

My mother cut in. "How about a loving sibling approach." She said more-so to my father then us.

I watched as my father thought it over before he nodded. "That is perfect. More so, no one knows you can fight this will be your approach. Appear weak and vulnerable with your brother towering above you to protect you."

My father adjusted us so I seemed to be cowering into my brothers chest with his strong arms wrapped protectly around me. My face adjusted to hold a frightened look that I would change during the second round in the courtyard. During the second lap I would turn my gaze up to look into his eyes with my big baby blues, my brother would looked down down into my eyes with a loved look on his face.

Soon we were moved onto the chariots as District 1 headed out and then soon Districts 2-11. A small lurch grabbed my attention and my eyes widened. I didn't need to pretend to be afraid, I already was. I wasn't one to adjust all to well to large crowds so as we exited the room that kept us privacy my eyes flickered to the crowed. It took several minutes to really come to and see that I appeared to be on fire.

My eyes were filled with shock as I looked up at my brother who gave me a reassuring relaxed look. I wasn't burning, there is one fear behind me. A weird sound came from the crowed and it seemed like they were booing us then I realized they were awwing.

I frowned, my eyes big as I turned into my brothers chest. He brought his arms around me one cradling my head and the other around my waist. I chanced a look at his face and saw he staring firmly into the crowed with a - I'll do anything to protect her - look.

Just as quickly as it started it was over and I was relieved. My mother and father met us as we stepped down.

"That went better than I expected." My father said in a toneless voice.

I felt the uneasy tension radiating off my my father. He never acted like this. He said we did better than he expected so why wasn't he smiling. Then I realized that he couldn't be happy for his only children entering the Games. Aparently from my dads eyes the better things went for the events before the Games the more likely we would stay alive. That is what my dad wanted, he wanted us to have a chance like him and my mother did. He wanted us to survive.


	5. Chapter 5

Just as he had told me earlier, Cinna came along and my mother and father greeted him warmly. I guess he wasn't lying when he said him and my parents were really close. I watched as Cinna took my mothers hand into his own and kissed it before he gently released it.

"I can't say its nice to see you, especially on these terms. Either way it has been a long time" Cinna said.

I thought for a moment that the words he spoke sounded a bit rude until I realized the full meaning. I guess he didn't like the fact that they are only meeting again because we are in the games. This man named Cinna truly cared.

It was my mother who cut their visiting time short as she looked at her watch. "I think it'd be nice if we got a bit of food in our stomachs before we settled in for the night. Cinna would you care to join us." My mom asked.

He nodded his head. "I will soon join you but I must return to my team and go over the wardrobe for the next week."

My mother and Cinna exchanged a friendly peck on each cheek before him and my father shook hands. The just as quickly as he appeared he left. I nestled into my mothers arms and watched as several other Tributes -much larger then myself- walk by staring at my family and I.

"What are they looking at mom" I asked.

She looked up and smiled as she wrapped her arms around me. "They are just curious to see the son and daughter of the District 12 champions."

"Oh" I say.

Without another word my mother and father guided us to the elevator where we took it back up and got out on a floor that held a banquet like room. My eyes grazed the room as I ached to eat the many foods that were laid out along the tables that lined the walls.

"Do we get to eat all this?" I asked my mother.

She nodded her head. "All you can eat."

I took a step forward and looked around. Several times I blinked hoping that this all wasn't my imagination. I mean sure my family was fed well but never had we been able to eat the scrumptious delicacies that were laid out before us. Only a fair few of the dishes I recognized but I had a feeling that they would be of better quality because they were from the Capitol.

My brother took my hand and pulled me forward. He handed me a large plate and took one for himself. We moved side by side pulling a little bit of every onto our plates before we took to a table and sat down.

I picked up a fancy looking fork with intricate designs along its handle and speared a piece of interesting looking meat and stuffed it into my mouth. The moment I began chewing it was as if a burst of flavor erupted into my mouth.

"This is so good" I said to my brother who nodded his head in agreement.

After 30 more minutes of eating in the dining area I deemed myself full and rose to my feet. My mother joined me at my side and escorted me off to my bedroom while my father did the same for my brother.

"Tomorrow you have training, I want you up bright and early to grab a good breakfast." My mother told me.

My moms idea of a good breakfast is one that has settled before the busy days began at home. I supposed that is what she meant for me because I had a habit of stuffing my face at the last minute and then getting sick while I was active at home.

"Yes mom." I sighed as I crawled into bed.

An older red headed woman entered the room and nodded towards the blankets. I think she wanted to tuck me in. I shook my head at her and reached my arm out to my mother.

"It's alright you may leave." My mother said cheerfully to the woman. "I will tuck her in myself."

The red headed woman nodded her head and then walked back out of the room. My mother braided my hair into one long plait and then settled me into the bed. I yawned tiredly as she took my hands into hers.

"Who was that lady?" I asked her.

My mother looked around the room, searching as if someone was eavesdropping before she spoke. "That was an Avox, they are here to serve the tributes."

My mother kissed me on the forehead before she tucked me in. Before she left she sang to me and I was out like a lightbulb.

I dreamed of a bird that night fluttering about and singing. I was following it through what seemed to be a forest before it disappeared. I could still hear its singing but it seemed to be growing distantly to my ears. Suddenly its song disappeared all together.

My eyes opened and I looked around. The pale decor of the room made everything seem so bright. I held my hand before my eyes as a brightly painted lady entered. Behind her was Cinna and the rest of his style team.

"Hi Cinna" I said tiredly.

The team stood hovering over my bed watching me. What were they doing? What were they waiting for I thought.

"Oh sorry" I said as I got to my feet.

The moment my feet touched the ground they bounded on me like a pack of lions taking to a gazelle. First I was tossed into the shower by the brightly color woman who scrubbed me down and then I was dried off before I was suited up.

"Breakfast?" I asked as my stomach growled halfway through doing my hair.

Cinna looked at me and shook his head. "Your mother had them clear everything. Something about you not waking up like your supposed to." He moved over to a cart and pulled back curtains revealing a small platter. "But I snuck this for you. Its not much but its food."

Cinna placed the platter on my lap and I looked at it. An orange, eggs, potatoes, a muffin and grits. He was right it wasn't much but I was grateful because it was food. My mother told me stories about how she and my father rarely had any food because of being poor. After winning the Hunger Games my parents were never hungry again and nor was my brother or myself. We were given three meals a day and that was what my stomach was used it. When I missed a meal it hurt my physically and when I ate and didn't wait an hour before I did anything extreneous I also got sick and vomited my food back up.

"You know my mother is going to eventually find out I had food once I lose it all over the training foor." I spoke to Cinna as I took a bite of my muffin which I had saved for last. He smiled as he finished fixing my training uniform which hung a bit long in my arms. "My mom is not a idiot you know, she will connect the dots and find out it was you who gave me food."

Cinna shrugged his shoulders. "Well hopefully my friend status with your mother will keep her from taking off my head." He joked. "I can't exactly work efficiently without it."

I couldn't help but laugh at his joke. My mother was right when it came to befriending Cinna. He was a good man and I felt lucky to have the opportunity to have met him even on these terms.

Finally I was finished. I rose to my feet and turned to look in the mirror. I looked decent, maybe even a bit pretty. I smiled as I turned to Cinna. Without a second of hesitation I threw my arms around him and hugged him like I did my brother.

"Thank you so much!" I said to him. The moment I stepped back he looked at me. He held out his hand and opened it. Sitting in the palm of his hand was my mothers golden pin. I've seen this several times on her person, it was the only item she would never take off.

"That's my mothers" I whispered in awe.

"Your mother wants you to wear it."

I watched curiously as he fastened it in place above my heart. The moment he stepped back I turned to face the mirror. Only this time my mother was standing in the doorway a tear sliding down her face. Before I could blink she quickly wiped it away.

"I see you've been eating" She finally says after a few seconds of silence.

I turned around and looked at her. "I'm sorry mom I snuck some food." I lied.

She shook her head as she walked forward. "I already know it was Cinna. I knew what he was up to the moment he passed me with his cart smelling like oranges and grits." She laughed. "Its okay just try not to vomit everywhere I don't think the other Tributes will like that."

My mother pulled me into a hug and kissed me before we headed out of the room. We made it to the elevator where we took it to one of the higher floors and got out. Walking the length of the hall I stopped once I saw the training room. This place was fascinating, I thought to myself as I looked around. Truly fascinating.


	6. Chapter 6

I stood at the entrance of the room and looked around astounded by the scene set before me. It was like heaven on earth, or heaven in hell? There were several stations, hand in hand combat, identifying plants, archery, camoflage and a few more others. The only problem I currently had was which one to try first.

"Save your archery skills for the judges. Rememeber to appear vulnerable." My father whispered in my ear.

"Come on sis lets go and do hand and hand combat. I'll show you a few things." My brother told me as he pulled me off towards the mat.

I had a feeling my brother was helping me act out the vulnerable fisad. It was either that or he didn't know I could fight. My father taught me several things when it came to hand in hand and after several months of practice I was able to over power my father. That month was the month my father gave me the nickname little killer. Well the nickname lasted no longer than a few days because my mother didn't like it.

My brother and I started off in practicing our blocks and then slowly brought in our feet. Our small battle turned into competition which was nothing new. Both my brother and I had a competitive nature. My brother got carried away and lifted me up before slamming me on my back. Almost instantly the wind was knocked out of my chest and I was clutching to try and get some air.

My brother moved to hold out his hand to help me to my feet but I quickly kicked his feet out from under him and then put him in a choke hold. After 10 seconds he was forced to tap out. I released my death grip on him and moved to my feet as he began coughing.

"Good job" He gasped as he too got to his feet.

"I'm going to go and shoot a few arrows." I said as I started to head off.

"Remember what mom said' River reminded me.

I looked at him and sighed as I headed over to the archery stations. Great now I had to purposely act like I had no idea how to use a bow. Should be fun.

I stopped before a shelf that held several different types of bows. Picking one up that reminded me of my own I turned it over in my hands as if I had no idea what I was doing. Looking like a complete idiot, check, I thought to myself.

"Do you know how to use those?" A random boy asked me.

I looked at him and shrugged my shoulders. "I can manage" I looked him over and took sight of his look. He had shouder length red hair, freckles and dark green eyes. "I'm Aloe I'm from District-"

"12" The boy finished for me. "Yeah, your parents are legend. Er I'm Phoenix. I'm a career from District 2." He held out his hand and shook mine.

"I like your hair" I spoke to him. "It's different."

He chuckled. "Yeah its a family thing. This was my third year in the reaping, lets just say the odds weren't in my favor this year round."

"I volunteered for my friend Lia." I said as I set a arrow onto my bow and pulled it back. Without thinking I aimed and released the arrow. It soared the 15 feet and hit the small center of the target at the far end of the room.

"Woah!" Phoenix said. "That's impressive where did you learn to do that?"

"My mom taught me." I murmered.

I then remembered what my father told me and chanced a glance around the room. Good no one saw. Phoenix stepped forward and began talking in a lowered voice.

"I want you in my group as an allie." He said to me.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Can I think about it and get back to you?" I asked him.

He nodded his head. "Anytime."

Just then a loud bell went of and everyone around us headed out.

"Sit with us at lunch?"

I smiled and walked with him towards the eatery where we loaded our plates with our favorite dishes and sat down talking. Pheonix and myself sat at our own table and fell into conversation.

"So are there any other things I should know about you? What are your skills?"

I looked around the room until I found my mother, father and brother. They eyed me curiously and I quickly looked away. I was sure to get an earful tonight I could feel it.

"I am not sure." I replied before stuffing my mouth with food to give me an excuse for my sudden quietness.

"Thats about 70 percent of us so don't feel bad."

I looked up at Phoenix and nodded my head. After I was stuffed I rose to my feet. "I'll see you tomorrow at training." I told him.

"Actually training in the morning is private sessions so I most likely won't see you until the interviews later that evening."

"Interview?"

He nodded his head. "Yeah we get a 3 minute interview just to talk and all. It's another stage where more sponsers will be having their eye on you. There are two more times for us to show our best for the sponsers after our first interview so make sure whatever you do you do it for the best." He rose to his feet and patted me on the shoulder before he headed off.

I stared after him, watching his hair dance around his shoulders as he walked away. It was like fire flickering, it was fascinating.


	7. Chapter 7

Just as I had left the eatery and headed back to my room I was stopped not only by my mother but my father and brother as well. The three looked disappointed, maybe curious or possibly those two with a hint of anger.

"What did I do?" I asked them.

"Do you know who you were talking to?" My father asked me.

I shrugged my shoulders. That was a silly question, of course I did. Beside the fact why would it matter who I was talking to, he was nice and I had a good conversation.

"Of course, his name is Phoenix."

"What did he want?" My mother then proceeded to ask me.

"We just talked and then he wanted me to be his allie."

"Well what did you say?" My brother asked me.

"I told him I'd think about it and let him know. Then he was curious about my skills and I told him I was unsure."

I watched my mother and father move a few feet away and fall into deep conversation. I was curious as to what they were talking about. After a few moments they rejoined us again.

"Say yes to the allie buy make a suggestion of adding your brother into the group." My father spoke quickly.

"Why do you want me to say yes?" I asked my father.

The four of us returned to my room before he even bothered speaking. "Ember..." My father spoke simply.

"Ember?"

"Yes Ember, it was his older sister. Well if you count her natural immaturity handicap then I guess she'd be his younger sister. She was reaped a year ago and didn't even make it out of the clearing before she was killed. He must see something in you that reminds him of his sister that he couldn't protect. Keep him close he might be the difference between life and death for you in the Games." My father finished.

That saddened me. Phoenix never mentioned his sister, then again I probably wouldn't. I shooed my brother and father out of the room before I dressed down into my night gown and climbed into bed. My mother talked to me about the events that would fill my day tomorrow and I moaned in annoyance. I just wanted to get the Game started and get it over with. I honestly don't understand why they have to drag this out.

My mother kissed my on the forehead before she tucked me in and left. I lay in bed with the lights off thinking about the Game and my chances of survival. For the first time in quite sometime I realized that 24 go in and 1 came out. That means if I survived my brother wouldn't and vice versa. I cried silently to myself until I felt like I couldn't cry anymore. Then I fell asleep.

That night I dreamed about a red headed girl with green eyes and innocent features that made up her face. Just like her brother that stood beside her she had freckles. They walked together into a neatly built clearing with lines of kids seperated by ages and sex. The glanced at one another and then it began. A tall man with aqua colored hair moved forward and welcomed them to the Hunger Games before he moved to the bowls where the names were. The male reached his hand into the bowl and plucked out a name. _Ember Lacerion _He called out.

Phoenix watched in horror as his screaming sister was being carried to the stage by two peace keepers. She thrashed and twisted but their grips were too strong to break from. She began screaming her brother Phoenix's name over and over. Phoenix had tears sliding down his face as he watched his sister who he had taken care of, raised and protected since their mother got sick being sentenced to death by the Hunger Games. This was the one time in his life that we was unable to protect her. He couldn't even volunteer because she was female and she was a male.

Suddenly the dream shifted and she was watching the girl named Ember standing on a platform listening to a count down. The she started running. Not even 30 steps in she was stabbed through the heart by a tribute from 6. Laying on the ground in a puddle Ember choaked to death on her own blood.

I opened my eyes to sit up quickly in my bed. I looked around panting from the nightmare I had just woke up from. It all seemed so real like it actually happened. I wiped my face in relief that my witnessing of the sister to Phoenix die, was just a dream. It was then that I realized I had been crying in my sleep. Seconds later the door opened and my brother walked in. He shut the door behind himself and came into my bed with me. He pulled me to his chest and held me tight.

"Nightmare?" He asked me.

I nodded me head. "How did you know?"

"I heard your screaming. You were shouting Phoenix's name and then you began shouting his sisters name. What were you dreaming about?" My brother asked concerned.

"I was dreaming about the reaping that brought about Embers death."

My brother squeezed me tighter before he kissed me cheek. "I'm going to protect you if its the last thing I do." he told me.

"If we make it to the end only one of us is coming out alive River."

"If we make it to the end _you _are coming out alive." My brother corrected me.

I began crying as I realized what he was saying to me. "You're not going to leave me, promise me River that you won't leave me."

My brother looked at me for a few moments. "I won't leave you until the very end Aloe." He began rubbing my hair as he made soothing noises to me. "Go to sleep I'll protect you from your nightmares. I'm right here and I am not going to leave you." He said to me.

I sniffled and wiped my nose on the sleeve of my gown before I slowly closed my eyes and returned back into the sleep that I had waken from. This time around my dreams were happy.

I was older, by the looks of it atleast 17 years old. My brother stood to my right he looked atleast 20. We were happy and so was my brother who seemed to be married to the girl he was in love with. Then in the picture came a familiar male with red hair.

"Aloe wake up" My brother spoke to me as he shook me awake from my dream. "Its time for breakfast. Lets get some food in you, you know how mom doesn't like you getting sick."

He practically pulled me from my bed and put a house coat around me before he half dragged me out of the room and to the eatery. Our parents were there and already eating when we arrived. I yawned and sat down beside them.

"It's nice of you to wake me up." I said sarcastically.

"Go get your breakfast" Was all my mother said to me.

I rose slowly to my feet and headed over to the tables that lined the walls. I pulled a plate to myself only to have it slip through my fingers and crash to the floor when Pheonix walked into the room. His green eyes sparkled and his hair was pulled back away from his face. When he saw me he smiled briefly as he walked over to my side to grab breakfast.

"I thought you said I wouldn't see you until the interviews?" I asked him.

He shrugged his shoulders. "I normally don't eat breakfast but I wanted to see you. I feel drawn to you like I was placed in this Game to protect you. You remind me of..." He cut himself off.

"I remind you of Ember?" I added.

He looked at me silently for the longest moment before he slowly nodded his head. "With the acception of your blonde hair and lack of freckles."

"I'm so sorry for your loss." I whispered.


	8. Chapter 8

After breakfast I was quickly whisked away by Cinna and my stylist to get prepped and beautified for the first of many interviews. I laid back in the chair while my eyebrows were being plucked, my legs were being waxed and my face powdered and makeup done. When I was finally done I was sat in a chair where they fixed my hair.

I winced every few seconds as they tugged and pulled at my hair to weave it into an intricate french braid that hung down my back with a few loose strands curtaining my face. Cinna came into the room carrying a red dress. I held up my arms and in the swiftest of movements he adjusted it above me so that it fell over me. Finally it was time to step into my death shoes, or heels. They were 4 inches in length, or so Cinna said. I stood in my heels staring at myself in a full length mirror, or atleast I thought it was me. The girl I was staring at looked pretty and older.

The red dress was beautiful, simple but elegant. Cinna created a masterpiece. He took my hands and twirled me slowly once before he smiled.

"You remind me of the years I dressed and styled your mother. You are the spitting image of her." Cinna told me.

Before I could thank him for his compliment my mother came and beckoned me from the room. She gave Cinna a quick peck on the cheek before she wisked me from the room. We walked to the elevator and took it to one of the higher floors. When I stepped out I was pulled into a hug by my brother River.

"You look beautiful sis." He looked at my dress once and ran his finger over a section of the fabric before he shook his head. "Though I wish Cinna would have added some more fabric to the dress. You are only twelve not sixteen." He turned and walked away.

I looked at my mother confused. "What is wrong with him?" I asked her.

She shook her head. "Let him tell you at his own time." My mothers face grew sad before she turned away.

What was going on with my family? I mean yeah my brother and I are tributes for District Twelve in the Hunger Games but why did it seem like they were hiding something more serious from me or atleast were not telling me.

I took a deep breath to try and relax myself before I headed deeper into the room. Why was everyone staring at me? I worked my way through the crowd of Tributes and their mentors before I broke through and was free with atleast a three foot diameter to myself.

I closed my eyes and tried to regulate my heart beat so I didn't sweat off my face and when I opened them Phoenix was standing beside me with a smile on his face.

"You look pretty Aloe" he said to me.

I smiled. "Thanks Cinna dressed me."

"You have an amazing stylist. I mean your flaming costume was brilliant."

"Yeah I know they were my mother and fathers during their times as Tributes in the games."

Before we could carry on our conversation any further we were called into the room where we would be doing our interviews. We were sat by district and by sex, females first. I sat beside my brother and listened to the others being interviewed. One that held my attention the most was Phoenix's interview.

"How do you feel about being chosen as a tribute the year after your sister?" The host asked him.

I sat up straighter in my chair as if it would help me to hear better.

"Well to be honest if I could have taken her place I would have. The only thing I can do now is enter that arena when the time comes and do the best I can. If I die it will not be in vain." At those last words he turned to look at me. "She's here right now with us, her spirit. I can feel it."

I tensed up and quickly stared at the floor. Did he imply that to me? I'm not his sister. Then I remembered what my father told me, I probably reminded him of his sister. I shrugged my shoulders slightly before I moved my attention back to the front. It was the female tribute from District 8. She was pretty there was no denying it. Her brown hair flowed down her back and one braid hung off to the side of her face with three different beads at the ends. On her shoulder she had what looked like a native tattoo. She was native? I squinted my eyes gently and really noticed the tint to her light skin, it was like a light olive colored skin tone.

"How do you feel going into the Games knowing that you may never see your husband or child ever again?" the host asked her

The girl standing up there was married and had a child? She looked barely 16. I leaned forward out of curiousity.

"I've been a wife since I was 15 and a mother since I was 16. I've had almost 3 years with my husband and 2 with our son. If I die in that arena I won't worry, my husband is a good father and I know my son will be taken care of. I regret nothing." She turned her head in my direction and I saw a glimmer run down her face. She was crying.

She nodded her head and then walked back to her spot. The male tribute from 8 came up and did his interview and then 9's tributes followed by 10's and then 11's. I took a deep breath when the male from district 11 sat down. I was next. I waited for my introduction before I got to my feet. I stopped in my tracks for a second when everyone caught me off gaurd with their cheering and applause. When I made it up to the stage I glanced up at the balcony and spotted Cinna. He nodded his head and I took a deep breath.

"How do you feel following in your mothers footsteps?" He asked me.

I looked up at the man and smiled. "I feel confident. I don't want to sound cocky but I've taken an interest in survival since I was able to read. My parents want me to hide the fact I have great skills to try and give me an edge in the competition but what the heck I'm going to flaunt them. Just remember who my parents are and what they are capable of. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree." I smiled and the room was quite. Why wasn't anyone clapping? Suddenly a loud boom like noise filled the air as everyone started their clapping at one.

I twirled before I bowed and then headed back to my seat. Next our districts male tribute. I listened to them introduce my brother and watched him walk up to the stage. He still seemed to be sad.

"How do you feel having to compete against your own sister knowing that only one will come out in the end?"

I looked up at the front awaiting his answer.

"I don't worry about my sister not surviving. I just worry about her losing sight of who she is. I know she can survive, better than I will. The only person I am worrying about is my girlfriend who is pregnant with my child. I should be there with her but instead I'm here preparing to enter into the Games knowing that I won't come out. If push comes to shove and its my sister and myself standing I'm going to off myself and let her walk. I can't kill my sister." He turned to look at me before he kissed his index and middle finger twice before placing it over his heart.

The crowd was silent as he walked back to his seat and sat down. Now I knew why he seemed so upset since he left his girlfriend that day. They were expecting a child together and now he was certain he wouldn't ever be able to be there for his family. I understood why he was in the worst of moods, I would be too. I reached my hand over the arm of the chair and took my brothers hand into my own and gave it a reassuring squeeze. He looked at me and for the first time in my life I saw a tear stream down his face.


	9. Chapter 9

After the interviews I tried to find my brother and talk to him about the issue that was bothering him. The only problem was I couldn't find him. He left quickly after we were released and manuevered his way through the crowd so fast that I lost him. After wasting 15 minutes trying to find him I decided to push it to the back of my mind for later and go get ready for training. I made up my mind to show them everything I had.

I kicked off my rediculously tall heels and took off at a run to my room. Them moment I got inside I flopped down onto the bed and closed my eyes. Within seconds I fell asleep only to be shakin awake by my mother. She came to tell me they were doing the last call for dinner and if I didn't go eat now I wouldn't have another chance until breakfast. If I wanted food I could easily order it whenever I pleased. With that in mind I turned my nose up at her and rolled over onto my stomach before I shoved my pillow over my head and went back to sleep.

The next morning I was pulled out of bed by my wonderful stylist Cinna. He was a bit annoyed at me that I hadn't bothered to clean the makeup off my face and take the dress off before I went to bed. One of my female stylists undressed me and put me in the shower. She paid extra attention to my recently mistreated skin, making sure that my pores were clean and my face was free of makeup. After my shower I was dried off and put into my training suit. This would be the last time that I would get to train with the others. Tomorrow I would be focusing on a private session with my mother and then later that day I would be showing a panel of important high ranked people, one of them being the Game Maker himself, what I had. Their scores would either bring me sponsors or leave me with myself in the arena.

Once my hair was braided down my back in a simple plait I was headed down to the training room where I picked up a spear and began playing around with the different targets. I caught a few eyes after I nailed target a centimeter from the middle. After I got bored with the simplicity of the spear I moved to the swords and machetes where I began dueling against a robot dummy. In three short swift movements I relieved him of 3 of his limbs and severed him at his waist causing his plastic lower half to clatter at the floor.

"Are you looking for any allies?" the native girl asked me. She was even prettier up close.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I guess I could add a few more. I already have Phoenix as a allie."

Her eyes widened. "He is lethal."

"Isn't that a good thing?" I asked her. Surely having powerful allies in my group is good right? Then I realized that it was just as bad as it was good. Those powerful groupies of mine would soon be wanting to kill me off in order to leave the arena alive. The more lethal my allies are the more harmful they could be for me. "It's not a good thing." I answered for her. she shook her head in agreement.

I held out her hand and we shook it in a friendly agreement. Phoenix joined us a few minutes later and I introduced them formally to one another. My new allie Naomi and I moved over to the hand in hand combat mat where we fell into a practice fight. I had to admit she was good and was able to keep up. That was good because I always enjoyed a good challenging fight. The sight of two females using advanced fighting moves drew attention quicker then bees to honey. Soon we had a crowd consisting of the other 22 tributes from the 12 districts. They were cheering us on and voting for their favorite fighter. Naomi slipped up for one moment when someone wolf whistled at her and her attention fell away. I over powered her and got her pinned to the ground for the three seconds to claim my victory.

Before I could catch my breath I had several tributes at my side wanting to join in as my allie. After a brief conversation and a bit of consulting with my two allies we had recruited 7 more bringing our total numbers up to11 with the addition of my brother. So that meant we had to rid off 13 other tributes before we would begin killing off one another. That would give me and my brother some time to come up with a plan on how to get the others in our group before they got us.

During dinner that night we formally introduced ourselves. Two of our 7 allies were half sisters. Their father was a traveler at a high ranking level and he had a one night fling with the district 5 female tributes mother resulting in her birth. Her name was Alisa and her half sister was Layla from district 4. The two were similar in their looks with their large eyes and their large lips and brown hair.

From district 3 we had Mitchell and Rayda. From district 7 we had Tyne and Raider. District 6 we had Colt. Colts districts' female tribute was Ambruette who didn't approve of teaming up so she was on her own.

After my group of allies finished stuffing our faces we turned in for the night and headed to our rooms. I didn't bother dressing down because I was so exhausted. Cinna would be bothered for my lack of respect for my skin before I went to bed but I was exhausted and it wasn't exactly on the top of my list of priorities let alone it wasn't even on it. I had four things on my mind, eat, sleep, fight, survive. Those were the only important things to me at the moment, aside from my family.

Tomorrow I would have my private session with my mother and then I would be showing the panel what I had. It seemed like only yesterday that I had barely arrived here in the capital now I had less then three days, tomorrow, two days left that I was positive I would be alive for. After that I would be in the arena fighting for my life, literally. With a long exaggerated yawn I fell into a much needed slumber.


	10. Chapter 10

I was standing in an empty room with my mother. It was my private session where I was able to work with my mentor on skills, strategies and the whole nine yards. Around me at different spots, distances, heights and sizes stood robot dummies. They each had their purpose and it was to 'kill' me. On their chest plates were a small timer that activated at random times. If I didn't hit the target properly before the timer ran out I was considered dead.

I held my spear in my hand with two more in a halter at my waist. Slung over my shoulder were my sheeth that held the arrows and my bow. On the other side of my waist was my knife holster, I had three different sizes following my machete.

I stared at the ground trying to focus and listen hard for the first dummy to activate. I had to listen hard because I didn't know which one would be the first to go. Then the ticking started to my left, it sounded distant and high up. I turned my head around to face the direction of the sound and saw it. In half a second I launched the spear at the target and it disabled. Then the next ticking started to my immeadiate right. I pulled out the machette and sliced a large gash in it before securing it back at my waist.

I took a deep breath as the next target started. I whipped out my small knife and flicked it the 10 foot length hitting the target dead center. Pulling out my bow I secured an arrow and pulled back quickly before I released it. It soared across the room to the dummy that was ticking in the top most north corner of the room. Switching my bow into my other hand I pulled out the second of my three knives and flung it at a dummy before I pulled another bow from my sheeth to hit a dummy that was right above me hanging by a rope. I slung my bow back over my shoulder before I took out the machette and took out the three dummies that were in the 5 foot radius from me and used my last arrow to take out the final.

Panting I turned to look at my mother. She shook her head at me before she walked forward to the dummy I used my smallest knife on.

"Wrong knife. The heavier knives go further and stay on course better then the lighter. One small gust of wind and you've just missed your intended target. You can't afford to miss your targets." My mother said before she threw down the knife at the dummy that had the bigger knife in it. Her knife hit mine and knocked it out. "Again!" She snapped.

I looked at her dumbstruck. I really didn't understand her attitude or why she was treating me like this. I shook my head and crossed my arm before I moved towards the door to leave.

"Where are you going?" My mother asked me.

I stopped and turned around to reveal the pink in my face that was a tell tale sign that I was holding back tears. "I'm going back to my room." I replied.

"You are not done, get back here and finish."

I shook my head. "Why does it matter" I said before I continued on towards the door.

Before I could reach it my mother had beat me there by closing the distance with a run and she was now blocking me. The look on her face stopped me in my tracks. I sighed as I knew I was about to get an ear full. I never had gotten the angry talk from my mother but I watched my brother get it several times a week.

"The smallest amount of training could be the difference between life and death in the arena." She pursed her lips before she stared at something in the distance with a focused expression on her face. I knew that look all too well, she was holding back tears. "It would be nice if atleast one of my children came home to me."

"River..."

My mother shook her head. "You know your brother would never let you die."

My mother was right, he would never kill me. I just didn't like the idea of my brother's child never getting to meet its father. For the first time since I had been become a tribute I broke down into tears. My mother walked forward and wrapped her arms around me before bring me into a hug.

"Mom I don't want to do this. I can't let River sacrafice himself." I cried.

A small bell rang annoucing the lunch hour. It was now time to go and gather with my group of allies and eat. I wasn't in the mood for conversation of any level so once my eyes were dried and I left the training room I headed directly for my room. When I was finally secluded I undressed myself and ran a hot bath. Laying in the tub I closed my eyes and tried my best to hold in the tears that fought to try and break out. This resulted in awkward gasping sounds. After succesfully managing to prune myself I got out of the tub and drained it before I quickly dressed in a pair of silk pajamas and climbed into bed.

I didn't care what my mother thought about me staying in bed for the rest of the day. I wanted nothing more then to crawl up under a rock and sink away into the unknown where everyone I loved was safe. I pulled the blankets tight around myself and closed my eyes. Slowly I began to fade away to the dream land.

_I was standing in a field of flowers. Off in the distance was my brother standing beside his girlfriend or maybe wife with their daughter who looked to be a few months old. They were alive that was good. The scene zoomed in and it seemed like they were looking at something a stone? Closer it zoomed in and it came to be that the stone was truely a grave. Inscrawled on the grave was the name Aloe Mellark. River knelt down beside the grave and pointed towards a small picture of myself. That's your aunt, you were named after her. Because of her I am alive with you to this day. A tear fell from his eyes as he stood back up. The small family walked away._

I opened my eyes quickly and looked around the room it was dark and the view from the window showed the same. A small movement from the corner of the room. A tall shadow moved forward and then sat before me. It was my brother.

"Bad dream?" He asked me.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Did I wake you up again?" He shook his head. "It was a good dream."

My brother moved me over a bit so he could lay down and then pulled me into his arms. "Tell me about your good dream"

I took a deep breath unsure as to whether he would see it the same way I did. "I had a dream that you were with your girlfriend and your daughter, her name was Aloe."

I felt my brother tense up. "Her... her name was Aloe? Why did we name her Aloe?" I could hear the shakiness in his voice.

"You named her after me." I replied.

"Why?" He was asking a question that had an obvious answer.

"You named her after me because I died so you could live and be there for your family."

My brother didn't like my dream because I died. He said 5 words to me and then he restored to the silence he fell into whenever he was having a rough time acknowledging the possibility that he may not be able to see his child be born or grow up. After several minutes of an uneasy silence I decided to try and go back to sleep. The dreams didn't change I was still dead and my brother was still alive with his family and his family was still sad.


	11. Chapter 11

It was the day of the ranking. Today I would be performing in front of the Games Makers. What exactly was I going to do, I had several skills. I just had to pick the one that would grab everyones attention. Maybe I could do a repeat of yesterdays private training with my mother. That was it, show them I could work with everything and anything.

I got out of bed slowly as to not bother my brother and headed in to get cleaned up for the days event. Checking the outfit Cinna had set out for me I smiled it was a simple black jumpsuit. I rubbed my finger along the material and stretched it, it was some off form of elastic, maybe spandex like but it felt like silk. Definitely expensive. I took the outfit into the bathroom with me and set it on the counter as I got into the shower. I turned the water on cold in order to wake myself entirely and very slowly I washed myself as best as I could until my fingers grew numb. In less than five minutes I was out of the shower shivering as I stepped on the mat that started the body dryer.

Dressed in my suit with my flat shoes and my hair pulled back into a long pony tail I headed back into the room. I stopped quickly as I noticed my brother was gone. He must've went to get ready. Leaving the room and heading down from the twelvth floor to the dining area I quickly loaded my plate with food and sat with my group of allies.

Halfway through our meal two others, a boy and a girl looking about 17 or 18 came over to our table. They were obviously from District 1 by the way they looked, and the logo.

"Hello" I said trying to kill the awkward silence between us.

They pulled two chairs from another nearby table and sat down before me. "Are you still looking for allies?" The boy asked me.

I shrugged my shoulders. "It depends if you have a skill useful to us. I don't want to be anyone protector but my own."

The girl smirked. "I can turn anything into a weapon in about 10 different ways whether it be that napkin that sits in that girls lap or the air we breath. I can kill anything."

This girl rubbed me the wrong way but I couldn't deny the fact that she might come in useful if we ended up weaponless. I nodded my head and then looked to the boy.

"What about you?" I asked him.

"I'm a tracker." he said plainly.

I scrunched my face up thinking about his skill and nodded my head. "You will come in useful."

"Damn straight. My sister and I will be the ones to lead you to the enemy." He added.

Sister? They were siblings. My eyes widened slightly before they went back to their normal size. These two were going to end up dying or fighting one another to survive in the end.

"You- you're..." I stammered.

"- Our names weren't drawn, we just volunteered. It's an honor to be where we are standing right at this very moment." The girl replied. "My name is Essence and this is my twin brother Ethan. We are the tributes from District 1."

"In our family the rule goes that if we aren't chosen when we turn 17 we must volunteer. I have three older siblings a sister and brother. My brother and one of my sisters are both victors from other years, their names are Patience and Honor. My youngest older sister is 18 and truth be told she is a bit wrong in the head. Her name is Harmony. She wanted to volunteer but my dear twin knocked her out." Ethan told us.

So his family was one for the Games. That just made things interesting. I made an immediate mental note to keep tabs on that brother sister duo. They would be the first on my list if I was to kill someone. The thought of me doing that sent chills through my body. Could I really kill somebody?

The others stood to their feet and left the room without my knowledge. I was spaced out to the point I didn't acknowledge anything around me. Only when a pair of strong but gentle hands pulled me to my feet did I really come too.

"What?" I said as I looked into the green eyes of Phoenix.

"Well we are going to get into position for the Game Makers. Everyone else already left." He chuckled.

I nodded my head before we headed down to the room that held all the tributes who were waiting for their turn to enter the room and show the panel what they had. Slowly the tributes began disappearing one by one. I rose to my feet and exited the room to find my mother, she was standing right outside the door with my father.

"I need a favor" I told them.

They nodded there heads. "Sure angel" my father replied.

"I need the room set up like yesterday, is there anyway you can do that in under five minutes?"

My mother looked at my father and smiled. "Each tribute gets up to ten minutes to arrange and/or set up the room before they have to perform so you will be alright your father and I can get it done in three."

My mother and father hugged me and wished me goodluck before I headed back into the room. There was only one other person in front of me now, my brother. I watched as the female from District 11 walked back into the room and out the door. River was up then me.

I watched him walk out of my sight and all I could do was hope the best for him. His score given from the Gamer Makers would either make or break him in several ways. I crossed my fingers that everything would work out in his favor.

It felt like only a minute but I knew it was longer, that my brother walked out of the room. His face was expressionless so I was unsure how it went for him, or atleast how he felt it went. He walked forward and threw his arms around me before he began crying.

"River, what is it?"

He stood back and looked at me before he just shook his head and walked off. I felt my body as it began trembling. Slowly I walked into the room and looked around. Everything was set up and my bow, sheeth and belt that held my various weapons lay on the ground in the center. I walked forward and buckled the belt around my waist before I slung my sheeth and arrow over my shoulder. On the ground was a small switch that I assumed was to begin the timers on the dummies. I got on one knee and positioned my hand on the switch before I closed my eyes to regulate my senses.

As my focus grew I was able to pin point the different noises in the room and sort out those that I didn't want to hear. Centered in my focus I flipped the switch and listened for the sound that I was looking for. Off to the left at medium range came the first ticking. I rose to my feet quickly and my eyes snapped open.


	12. Chapter 12

I moved around the room in what seemed like a bit of a daze. It was as if my mind and body already knew what to do all I had to do was draw my weapons and the last was just reflex. I moved swiftly like water flowing effortlessly down stream and then it was over. I stood there with my machette at my side and breathed.

The room around me was silent, were the Game Makers even watching? I slowly turned around and all eyes were on me, and their lips were moving quickly as if they were having a conversation. The tension began rising so high I felt my heart speed up. Finally they dismissed me and I thanked them for their time before I left the room. When I emerged everyone was gone. Where did my parents go I thought to myself. I shrugged my shoulders before I headed to the elevators to go to the twelvth floor. I wanted to get a bit of rest in and take a shower before I was called to dinner, during then I would find out my score and possibly the reason my brother broke into tears.

After a quick shower I dressed in a pair of simple pants and a tshirt that Cinna had set out for me and then laid down on my bed to relax. Automatically the memory of my brother breaking down when he came out of the room crossed my mind and it made me wonder what happened. Did they tell him his score was going to be so low that his chances of survival without sponsors was none or did they tell him something more harsh. Whatever happened it sure had him torn to pieces.

An hour and a half later my mother came to gather me for dinner and I willingly went. I wanted to see my brother, I wanted to understand what happened to make him cry like that. The moment I joined the table I knew he had been crying recently. His eyes were red rimmed and his nose had a pink tint to it. I looked at him and he quickly looked away.

Just like everyone else at the table -with the exception of my brother- I pulled a plate to myself and began filling it with my favorites before I dug in. Halfway through dinner the report came on that showed us our scores. I only paid close attention to those that were in my pack of allies.

Ethan from District 1 gathered a 7 and his sister Essence an 8. Phoenix managed a 6 along with Mitchelle and Rayda from 3. Layla gathered a 2 and her sister from District 5 a 4. Colt roused a 9, Tyne a 9, Raider a 6 and Naomi a fair 5. What struck me odd was that my brother managed a 1 and I a 12.

I turned my head to look at him and so did everyone else. We all wanted an explanation as to what happened. Sure he wasn't the best but he should of atleast gotten a 6.

"What happened?" My father spoke demandedly.

My brother looked up from the table and I could see his eyes were wet again, he was about to cry. "I went into the room and they said before I began they had some bad news to tell me." He took a labored breath before he spoke again. "They said Seta died, there was a gas leak in their home. They think it happened during the night because they were found dead in their beds. Her entire family is gone." My brother said in strangled words. "After that news I couldn't go on I just left." My brother rose to his feet and left.

I soon followed as I for some reason grew sad. I went to the elevator and took the familiar trip to the 12th floor and headed to my room where I just threw myself into bed. I cried for several minutes. The thought of the pain my brother was going through was catastrophic to my mind. How was he supposed to keep himself grounded tomorrow, with the shape he's in right now he could get taken out pretty fast in the arena.

Then it dawned on me. They wanted an interesting game. The idea that Seta's death wasn't a coincidence struck me. Was the Capitol that desperate for a good game that they would kill innocent for a reaction. No doubt crossed my mind, not even for a second.

My father walked in and sat beside me on my bed, there were traces of tears strung along his cheek bones. I rose my hand up and wiped them away.

"How is he doing?" I asked my father.

He shook his head. "Your brother is in no emotional state to be going into that arena tomorrow. They had to knock him out with medicine because he was trying to kill himself by attempting to jump off the roof."

I gasped from shock as I listened to my fathers words. My own brother tried to end his life. I just stared at my father. So many things I wanted to say but knowing we were constantly watched I knew it wasn't safe to speak freely. My father understood my lack of words for me really wanting to talk so he offered to show me the beautiful garden on the roof.

Heading up the remaining floors we reached the roof and made our way to the garden that got alot of the wind more than any other spot on the roof making it impossible to be heard.

"You think it wasn't an accident, the gas leak?" I asked my father.

He pulled me into a hug and buried his face into my hair. "I know it wasn't an accident. Just remember that no matter what happens to him you must do your best to survive. Please I need atleast one of my children to return to me."

I nodded my head. "He's not going to last is he?" I asked my father.

"He scored a 1 and no one knows why so they won't worry too much about killing him off. He will last for a day or two at the least." My father replied.

I wanted more than anything to walk down to my brothers room and slap him. Yell at him and tell him he wasn't allowed to leave me. Shout at him to try his hardest but I would be talking to nothing more then an empty shell of a humans body.

After my father made me promise to give my all we headed back down to District 12's floor. My father tucked me into bed and wished me goodluck. I wouldn't see my mother and father again until I made it out of the Arena at the end. If I did make it out.

It seemed like only yesterday that I had stepped up to save my best friend and now I was hours away from going into the arena. My allies and I made plans of where to meet up the moment we started. Several of the arenas that were favored for the games since the time they first began was the 'Clock' which terrified me from the things I heard about it. The arena my parents played in and another that was like a rainforest with the acception of it constantly flooding at random times. We created hand signs that only our group knew. If we were to go for the trees in the north it was our small finger and thumb risen to the air. To the south was an index finger salute and for the nearest water was a fist. Those first 60 seconds in the arena were the ones that would make or break us as a whole. We need to think and think fast then have our minds made up before the time was up.

I closed my eyes after the time ticked past midnight and tried my best to sleep. I couldn't. My mind was racing and it wouldn't stop. Every few minutes I thought back to my brother and how it would affect me when he was lost. I thought about not being able to keep my promise and go home to my parents at the end. I thought about everything. The next morning when I woke I took a long shower and got ready. In just a short period of time I would be on the hover craft heading to the arena where the clocks that counted down the minutes for life began.


	13. Chapter 13

The ride seemed to go by fairly quickly and before I knew it I was being dressed by my team of stylists for the arena. My hair was braided in a simple plait down my back and I had on a dark suit that Cinna mentioned my mother wore during her time. Apparently he reconstructed it during his free time. After I was finished Cinna waved away the rest of his crew and sat down with me to wait. During this time he pinned my mothers mockingjay pin on my suit.

"I did the same thing for your mother during her first reaping." He told me.

My mother and Cinna had an odd relationship and I was curious as how Cinna saw her. I asked him and he willingly spilled all.

"I always saw your mother like the daughter I never had. I was protective of her from the moment I met her." he told me. "The day you walked into my remake room I felt like a grandfather." He didn't say much after that but I felt a warm fuzziness flow through me and hugged him. Slowly he returned the hug.

"So you never had kids?" I asked him after a few moments.

"I do now, one girl her name is Katniss she lives with her mother in District 1 while I am here for work."

"That's wonderful how old is she?"

"She turned thirteen today." I frowned almost immeadiately. "I'm greatful for the girl named Essence. She volunteered and spared my daughters life, it was my daughters name who originally came from the reaping." His voice was strained.

Cinna quickly composed himself and rose to his feet before moving to the tube. I guess it was time. He gestured towards and circular silver plate on the ground and I moved to stand on it. Quickly the tube lowered around me and I could have sworn I saw a tear trickle from Cinna's eyes. I rose my hand and placed it on the clear tube that encased me and smiled feebly as Cinna rose his to match mine. Suddenly I began rising and surfaced in the area.

I took a quick look around and saw we were surrounded by greenery, there was giant trees all around us. I held up my hand and gave the signal only my crew knew meant head to the north. They all nodded and we waited. Slowly the time trickled by and then the final ten seconds were being spoken by a robotic sounding voice.

One of the tributes from district 11 accidentally lost her balance and stepped off her plate resulting in being blown to pieces. I forced myself to focus and then I heard the final number. I launched myself from my plate and ran forward to the cornucopia that held the means to my survival. I made it there and grabbed the first bag my hand came to. Beside it was a bundle of weapons that I hosited over my shoulder and quickly ran towards the north.

I made it to the lining of the trees and took post waiting for my crew. Atleast 4 blasts were heard before my team made it to my side. I was missing two of my crew meaning two rivals were dead.

"Colt and Naomi are gone they got into a brawl with two others and took each other out." My brother told me.

He can talk, he is by my side, he seems rational enough to survive, thats good. I smiled at his presence and then turned quickly to launch a spear at a male who I recognized from District 5. He fell instantly to the ground at my feet. A blast was heard that I half ignored when I saw a small knife in his lifeless hand that had blood on it. Then I felt the sharp burn in my side and realized I had been grazed. It wasn't too bad but it would need to be kept clean if I didn't want to get sick. I grabbed a handful of moss from a tree to my left and cut a long strip from the extra fabric of my shirt and wrapped it up.

"We need to get deeper into the forest if we are to be safe. There are atleast 7 more we need to get rid of and they all have excellent skills." Essence said. She kept her eyes on her brother as she spoke. He nodded.

We headed deeper into the forest at a light paced run. I had appointed Tyne to the front as the lead because she knew how to find water and water meant survival. Our camp would be set up near the banks. Within fourty five minutes we came to a rest before a river. Everyone began setting their things down before Tyne stopped us. She pointed towards the ground which we noticed had been soaked from the point of the entrance of the forest. I knew immediately that this place flooded alot.

Tyne looked at the rocks and the small ledges before she seemed to relax her focused composer. "Here, we will make camp here its safe." She said as she let her things fall to the ground on a small mouth of a cliff that stood about 13 feet.

We all took the same path climbing up rocks and skimming along before we settled beside her.

"How do you know its safe?" Raider questioned.

"One its dry, two there is no greenery or any hint of weeds, three there are no signs of flooding. The rocks below showed water signs. The water doesn't get this high. It floods about five feet but this is the only part of the cliff that gave protection from being easily seen and kept us from drowning." she finished.

Several of the others began questioning her before I called silence. I was suprised at how well they listened to a twelve year old girl. I thought it was because of who my parents were but then I remembered I, the twelve year old scored the highest from the entire group who were all composed of girls and boys between the ages of 14 and 18.

"Don't question Tyne she knows this stuff." I said before I set my things down and took a seat.

My brother took a seat on my right and Phoenix on my left. After a few minutes of silence and catching up with our thoughts we decided to see what we were able to gather from the cornucopia. Several things of beef jerky, bread rolls, water and dried fruit. That should get us by for atleast a few days if we rationed correctly. Our weapons consisted of 10 spears, 8 knives, a couple objects that could be used as a bludgeon and 5 machettes and 7 pairs of awkward glassed. Great no bow. Phoenix pulled from his shoulder what I thought we had been lacking. A pristine bow of a black wood and two sheeths full of arrows. Why two?

"There were two bows and I didn't want to bring both so I just grabbed the second sheeth of arrows and ran off. Now the other bow is useless." Phoenix said probably reading my confused expression.

I hugged him and thanked him for grabbing the bow for me. We all voted to skip dinner that night because we had all ate a large breakfast and a equally sized lunch so we were good for atleast another day or so. Several hours later night began to fall and it grew very cold. There were only five sleeping bags so we unzipped them and then zipped them together to make a giant blanket that the 11 survivors of our group huddled under. I was nestled between Phoenix who pulled me close to his side to share his body heat and my brother who was the same on my other side. I don't know about anyone else but I was warm, maybe too warm.

When it was dark enough we moved towards the edge of the cave as we knew it was only a matter of time before the Anthem was played and those that died were shown. Just as predicted a minute later it began. I watched as those that died flashed through the sky. The face of the girl that was blown to pieces from District 11, the male and female from District 9, Naomi from District 8, Colt from 6 and the male from 5 who had stabbed me before I killed him. I frowned at the thought of Naomi's family back at her District. Her husband and child would never see her again. After it was over we moved back towards the back of the cave and fell silent.

Essence and her twin agreed to take first nights gaurd while the rest of us slept and though I was not trusting I couldn't help but give in to the exhaustion that resulted from me not getting proper sleep the night before. I willingly let myself doze off and slept peacefully which surprised me the next morning because of where I was.

"So what are we going to do? Just wait for people to come along and start picking them off or are we going to go and do some human hunting?" Mitchelle asked.

That was a good question. We were unable to be seen from below so they wouldn't be able to find us but then again a bunch of us in a small cave on a cliff reeked of disater. We needed to eventually leave the cave every few hours for mental purposes Alisa spoke. I agreed so after a long talk we decided on sending people out in small groups for some air and to bath or practice with their weapons. Those that stayed would be the look out.

After we had ate a bit of food we decided on our groups. The first group consisted of myself, River, Phoenix, Raider, Tyne and Mitchelle. The rest; Alisa, Layla, Rayda, Ethan and Essence, were group two. We took the first trip out to stretch our legs and look for anything edible.

After we got a twelve feet of distance from the cliff Raider spoke up. "Were you guys awake last night?" He spoke as he bent over and began making gestures towards this plant. It seemed like he was trying to make it seem like he was asking about a plant or something. Each of us shook our heads and then he walked another three feet and stopped before another plant and did the same. "I heard Essence and Ethan talking about splitting up and killing you and your brother off. They were saying you were a liability they couldn't risk."

"Liability?" I asked as I watched him pluck the plant from the ground. Must have been for show because I knew that plant was just a weed and nothing about it was edible unless you wanted to be sick from both ends.

We walked on and he stopped at a tree and seemed to be examining the bark and picking at it. "Can you guys look any less suspicious, atleast pretend to be looking at something but do it casually." We all listened and began scoping within hearing distance of Raider. He began picking off some of the bark which was good for tree bark tea and stuffed it into his bag before tossing aside the weed. "Those two are going to try and turn the rest of the crew against us and if they are successful they will slaughter us in their sleep. I say we take things into our own hands." He said as he moved to a bush that held blue strawberries and began picking the ones that grew from a leaf that had orange spots. After Tyne gave him a weird look he explained. "The blue strawberries growing off the stems with plain green leaves are poisonus." Tyne nodded her head before she helped him pick. "What we need to do is make a escape and seperate ourselves. Apart from them we are better at survival, atleast until the end."

I nodded my head as I began picking mint leaves from another place five feet from him. "And how do you expect to hide from the infamous tracker from District 1?" I asked him.

Tyne spoke up this time as she brought over a few plants I recogized as Cherry apple plums, a genetically mutated fruit. "The second cave."

Second cave, what second cave and how did she know about it I asked. Tyne confessed that while she was trying to find the perfect spot up on the cliff she came across a hidden second cave that was only noticeable up close. From any other angle but a close up one it looked like a small crack in the rock. It was low and it also got a bit of water when it flooded because it was low down. From Tyne's quick and obscure observation the cave was well hidden and functionable. She also mentioned that the entrance of the hidden cave got alot of wind which would be good if we ever need to light a fire. The wind would whisk away the smoke before it was seen.

After picking two bags full of edible plants, fruits and vegetables and killing off 5 squirrels, 6 raccons and a small deer -which we skinned and cut up into small pieces for easy carrying- we headed back to our cave.

Tonight if all went well we would escape and find safety in a hidden cave. I was right to bring Tyne along because she may have been the difference between our chances of survival.


	14. Chapter 14

When we returned to the cave with the other group we acted normal, laughed, chuckled, and didn't even overwork the niceness. Hopefully they wouldn't suspect that we knew what they possibily had planned against us. When time came around to eat we decided on the beef jerky and dried fruit because it didn't require lighting a fire that would surely give away our positions. That was good for my group because it would save us some food.

Tyne stuck her head out over the edge before she looked back up. "The water is going to flood tonight the looks of things. If we need to fill up on water we best do it now." She told us. "I think three of us can manage the lot but I will need the rest to cover us and keep a look out."

I stepped up and moved forward. "I'll go with you." After I volunteered Phoenix stepped up too and my brother but I waved him off saying we already had our three and that he should stay and keep look out. That worked out perfectly because the group wouldn't think anything fishy was going on if I left my own flesh and blood back while I stepped out.

After we secured the water canteens in a bag the three of us headed back down and quickly filled them up. We were gone for only three minutes and on our way back Tyne showed us the entrance of the cave. Just like she said I couldn't tell it was there until I was right up on it. We entered it a few feet and looked around before we came back out and resume our descend back to our hide out. The moment we got inside the shelter a tribute emerged from the depths of the forest and started at a run to the river.

"You don't think she's going to do it do you?" Tyne asked me.

What was she talking about, do what? Essence pulled a thick knife from the pile of weapons and was taking aim when I held her arm back.

"Wait" I gasped. "Lets just see what she does." I told her. She glared at me but then relaxed her hand.

The female tribute ran forward and threw his stuff down before she began wading into the river to bath herself of the filth that covered her and made her skin look darker.

"That's Niyette she's from my District" Pheonix said.

We watched as the female began bathing and then suddenly she was being pulled by the current.

"She's going to drown." Tyne said

"How do you know so much about water aren't you from the Lumber District." Layla asked.

I watched Tyne nodd her head. "Yes and because of working in forests with my father and mother since I was a small child I learned several survival skills. We had to stay in the forest until we hauled in our required share. If we left before we had it we go beat the first time and the second time we got our hands broken the third time we got shot. So we had to learn to make do in the forest."

Just like she predicted the girl from District 2 drowned and a blast went off. Nice call I thought to myself. I turned to the second group and nodded to them. "It's your guys' turn to go out and get some air and do what you need to do."

Ethan pushed past us mumbled about having to go pee and his sister followed. The other 3 descended down after them and when they were well away from the cliff we fell into conversation.

"It's our turn to keep watch so we will be by the entrance of the cave. I say when we are sure they are asleep we escape. Take all the food and weapons and head to our planned residence." Mitchelle spoke.

We all agreed without hesitation. But the question was how do we know if they are really asleep. My brother came up with the idea of 'playing a prank' on them. When we thought they were sleeping we would start talking about playing a prank by putting raccoon guts in their hair and the eyes in their mouths. Anyone that was truly awake would naturally freak out and defend themselves, those that were sleeping wouldn't do a thing.

The group returned about an hour later and it was about time too. We need a way to gather all the food without seeming suspicious so while I was picking out the items to go with our jerky dinner I suggested that we pour out all the food and sort it so we could properly preserve it and make it last longer. Everyone agreed so after I at I did just that. All the meat was wrapped in large leaves I had Essence and Ethan retrieve from the trees and the fruit was bundled. All the food was in one bag, the meat on the bottom and fruit and edible plants on top.

A loud crackle of thunder and a few rain drops grabbed Layla's attention. "It's going to rain."

"No its going to flood. We need to secure the weapons or they will be washed from the cave and taken downstream." Tyne said.

"You said it didn't flood here." Essence growled.

"No i didn't I said the water from below won't reach up here. We have no roof to this cave so the rain water will pour ontop of us and wash out below."

As she suggested we moved all our things to a ledge on the side of the gave and used a few spears to hang them to the wall. Now all we had to do was find a way to sleep without getting wet. There was none so in turn we unzipped all the sleeping bags and used them as ponchos. We paired up since there weren't enough.

The night grew close and just like yesterday once it was dark enough we all filed to the mouth of the cave, carefully this time around since it was raining and the floor was now slippery. The Anthem started and then the girl from District 2's face lit the sky. After it was over those on gaurd took seat at the front of the cave as those that weren't took to the back and fell asleep under their sleeping bags.

After a few silent we began our plan that would let us know if anyone was awake. All was silent so we carefully rose to our feet and grabbed the bags that held the food and weapons and took the spears from the wall that we used to hold them up and slipped from the cave and made our way slowly down to the cave that was now a few inches under water. When we entered we were stunned.

"Can you swim?" Was the first words Raider spoke.


	15. Chapter 15

I looked out over the cave and saw nothing but water, just a few hours ago there was just a small river and now it was gone. What were we going to do, was what I was concerned about. We couldn't go back so we had no choice but to move forward.

"We swim, there is no other way. I am sure I saw atleast one ledge that was high enough to stay clear of the water so if we get inside we can find it." Raider spoke up.

Why was this kid always so pushy when it came to what to do and when to do it. But he did make a point. If we don't risk it we might as well kill ourselves now and save ourselves the trouble of being possibly tortured by the other Tributes. I put my arms through the bag that contained the food and handed the other to River who was stronger than myself when it came to lifting. I then passed my bow and sheeths to Phoenix before I just tossed the spears into the river below. Maybe they would be carried so far away no one could find them. Raider had the bag with the basic things like our sleeping bags and first aid kit.

I jumped into the water and pushed my self to the surface before I began a labored swim. It wasn't until I was a few feet away I realized I couldn't see. I called out to my brother and told him to have everyone put on a pair of the glasses and bring me mine. After we all adjusted to the night vision we began our swim to the closest slab of dry rock we could find which was a 2 1/2 minute swim inwards. Once we reached the rock it was a small climb across rocks before we were able to lay down.

After getting my lungs back to their regular breathing pattern I grabbed the back pack and that had our sleeping bags and passed them out. There were six of us so we had to pair up again. Two of the boys ended up sharing one, my brother shared with Tyne since she was small enough to fit with him and I shared with Phoenix. After we were stripped down to our skins we slipped into the sleeping back and shivered ourselves to sleep. I had no idea how Raider and Mitchelle felt laying naked beside each other but I felt more awkward than anything. I couldn't deny the fact that I was warmer with my clothes off at the moment then on but tomorrow we would pull them back on and hope they dried quickly.

After getting passed the awkwardness of the nakedness I was able to relax enough to fall into a deep sleep. When I woke the next day I was in shock when I heard voices from near the hidden mouth of the cave. It took me a while to realize I was in my sleeping bag alone. I looked around and saw Phoenix fully clothed and braced with a weapon. Beside him were the other four clothed as well. I quickly grabbed my clothes and got dressed before I hastily put our sleeping bags away and joined them with my bow.

"Do you know who it is?" I asked them in a quiet voice.

"It sounds like Layla." Just then her face appeared and we ducked down into a belly stance. "Over here its a hidden cave I bet you they went in here."

I heard Essence voice she sounded very angry. "Wait till I get ahold of them I'll kill em myself." I didn't doubt her.

I turned to my allies and nodded behind us. We grabbed our things and silently slipped from view. We climb behind a large boulder and made our ways to the top of it that over looked the entire cave. We were high up that we could see anyone entering and they couldn't see us. The sounds of splashing water grabbed our attention and I pulled a few knives from the bag. I thought it'd be smart to save my arrows for more long distance kills.

Sure enough I saw the five tributes swimming into the cave. Rayda who was a terrible swimmer made it five feet before the watter seccumbed her to her death. A blast went off. The other four kept swimming and didn't even seem to acknowlege her death at the slightest. I took aim at the leader near the from who was Essence and then stopped before handing the knife over to my brother.

"Essence" I whispered to him

I watched my brother take aim and then throw the knife. It whizzed across the room and lodged itself deep into her skull immeadiately the water began tinting red. A loud blast was heard and then a mighty roar emerged from Ethans mouth. Ethan wrapped an arm around his sister and used his other arm to propel them both to shore. The moment he was on two feet he went into a rage.

"You stupid scared bitches. You killed her, now I'm going to kill you. Don't bother hiding because I'll find you." Him and the final two remaining in his group went off down the other side of the cave and disappeared.

"Do you think they will find us?" Tyne said.

Phoenix shook his head. "He is from District 1 I highly doubt he could track a thing they don't have forests. What is he going to do track a jewel." He said with a slight snort.

"So he lied to get into my group?" I asked.

"I think he lied to get close to you so he could kill you." Phoenix replied.

I felt betrayed and stupid at the same time. How could I have allowed him to get past my gaurd. That made me wonder if what his sister said was true. Mitchelle shook his head at my question.

"I tested her myself when I challenged her in a hand in hand combat I gave her a piece of paper and she just crumpled it up and tossed it before she said 'what the hell am I suppose to do with a piece of paper.' She just wanted to talk herself up." Mitchelle explained. "Even so she was a terrible fighter she didn't even do anything but slap me if I got too close. She is also a terrible aim she threw a knife and it went off course by 3 feet."

I suddenly felt anger towards the District 1 tributes. They both lied and they both were riding on us expecting us to help them survive because they didn't know how to. Suddenly I was relieved that I didn't let her throw that knife. If she was as bad an aim as Mitchelle said she would have gave away our location to that girl and anyone else who might have been nearby watching.

"So what's the plan boss?" Tyne asked me.

I sighed as I leaned against a wall to think. "Lets go and eat." I said as my stomach growled. "After that we can hunt those traitors down and kill them one by one."

No body objected to my plan which was a relief so now it was time to do some cooking. I pulled several different fruits from the bag and began cutting them up into small pieces before placing them aside. I plucked a few mint leave and grabbed the miniature pot from another bag and began a gentle fire. The salty water would help draw the smoke smell from the smoke as it filled the air so I wasn't really worried about them finding us. After the fruit was warm I put out the fire and we all began eating warmed fruit cocktail.

"This is good" Phoenix said after he took a bite.

"Thank Raider he picked most of the fruits you are eating." In turn we all thanked him.

We each took time to get to know one another and what their best overall contributing skill was. I was good at hunting and cooking, my brother was good at turning objects into deadly projectiles (the rock incident from my youth reminded me every day). Phoenix was great at building things from scratch. Tyne whose real name was Alexis was good at climbing trees and finding sources of water. Raider was good at finding edible plants, better than I am. Lastly Mitchelle was good at creating traps. After getting to know my crew I knew I felt at ease.

Now that we ate and were rested a bit more it was time to hunt the other three. Where to go looking for them though. After a while I came to realize that each tribute was good at something they learned in their District. That was why the two from District 1 didn't know much they could hardly even swim. The only reason Ethan was able to get through was because of his muscles. Layla was the only one who was a confident swimming because she was from the fishing district.

I began thinking hard and realized they were only good on dry land so they would obviously go up. We gathered our things and set out heading in the direction we last saw the enemies.


	16. Chapter 16

We searched high and low for the three traitors. We followed their sloppy movements through the caves and out a giant mouth that led into what seemed to be another section of the arena. The weather was more warm on this side and there we alot of tropical plants spread out. I recognized them easily, banana's, cherries, apples, watermelon, kiwi's, the variety was endless. A females scream pulled my attention deeper into the trees and from behind a large bush I listened and spied.

"I told you not to eat it." Alisa blubbered. On the ground at her feet was her sister Layla.

She suddenly began seizing up, foam rising from her mouth before her body stopped and a blast filled the arena announcing her death.

"Should we kill her?" Phoenix asked.

A small knife flew threw the air and stuck her in the side of the neck. She dropped quickly to the ground and bled out. We left and continued on, 30 seconds in the blast announced her passing.

"How many is that?" River asked.

Raider picked a few things here and there as he began talking. 24 came in, 5 died the first night. 1 the second night and 3 the third night. Thats nine, 24 minus 9 is 15 minus the 6 from our group that leaves 9 more to go before..." he didn't bother finishing his sentence we all already knew what he meant.

"Some game huh?" I told them.

Heavy footsteps came up behind me and Mitchelle pushed me out of the way. I watched as him and Ethan fell to the ground and began fighting. Soon after his appearance Alisa joined in and tackled Tyne to the ground. I ran forward and and went to pull my bow before I realized I didn't have it on me. I quickly looked around and saw a familiar bush of blue berries I looked for the right one and plucked it before I ran forward and jumped on Alisa and shoved it into her open mouth. She gagged and choaked before she fell to the ground and began seizing until a blast sounded announcing her death.

"Are you okay?" I asked Tyne as I helped her to her feet. She nodded her head.

Another blast sounded and I turned to look at Mitchelle who was pushing Ethan's large body off of him. I walked over and helped him to his feet.

"Thank you for taking that blow for me." I said.

"Some game" He repeated to me.

Phoenix who seemed frozen in his place unrooted himself and moved forward to pull me into a hug, my brother soon joined me.

"Are you okay?" River shouted as he took my face between his hands.

"Why are you shouting at me?" I asked him as I pushed his hands away.

He chuckled nervously. "Sorry bout that. I'm sorta in shock. I thought you were a gonner."

I smirked at him. "I'm stronger than I look."

River threw his arm over my shoulder and we headed off. 7 more to go. Maybe my brother or myself may actually have a chance. But in order to survive we would need to kill off those that we had made a slight bond with. Surprisingly after the small handful of people I killed with out a second thought I couldn't bare killing my allies.

We walked for what seemed like three hours picking fruit, vegetables and edible plants. We found a nice spot near a tiny lake and did a bit of spear fishing before we set up a fire to have a feast. We thought it'd be a good idea to cook and eat all the meat from the animals before it spoiled. With the help of my fellow allies we were able to cook and enjoy a massive feast of odd-ball stew that contained whatever we threw in. We laughed as we passed around canteens to drink some water and actually sang together.

"So if you had to bet on someone else aside from yourself who do you think will make it out?" Raider said.

we all looked around at one another before Tyne spoke.

"I bet on Aloe all the way." she said.

"Me too" my brother agreed. Everyone except myself bet on me.

I shook my head. "I think Raider will win." I wanted everyone to win so I just chose someone at random.

Raider stood to his feet and headed over to grab another fruit off of its vine. As he was walking back he began talking about how nice it'd be to walk out as a victor when suddenly a shredding sound was heard. Raiders face went white as he looked down. Sticking through his mid section was the head of a spear. Before he could fall another spear soared through the air and missed River by in inch and penetrating Mitchelle before he could move. They hit the ground seconds apart and two blasts where heard.

I took a arrow from the sheeth and pointed it at the girl that hung from tree's and let it go. It hit her in the shoulder and she fell to the ground. Getting to her feet she ripped it from her shoulder and picked up her final spear that she launched through the air. I watched in slow motion as it went soaring towards Tyne. I thought she was a gonner until my brother jumped in front of her and took the blow of the weapon in the middle of his chest. He fell to the ground and bled out within seconds and a blast sounded and I knew he was dead.

I stared at him, his dead body. Somewhere in the distance another blast sounded but I didn't care. I just wanted my brother back. Several things flew through my mind as I realized my parents were watching and had witnessed along with myself the death of my brother, their first born. I was unable to save him and now like I promised to my father the night before I entered the arena, I would do everything to come home to them.

I got to my feet and after a goodbye to my brother Tyne, Phoenix and myself headed on. We were five feet away when I heard it, the craft that came to take the dead bodies. I watched as they lifted the bodies of the girl who offed my brother, Raider, Mitchelle and then finally my brother. Tears swam behind my eyes as watched the craft disappear into the distance.

I turned to the final two members of my crew. "It's not safe we need to move, any ideas?"

9 more to go I thought to myself. 6 from the other Districts and then my two allies. I guesstimated that to being anywhere from 1 to 5 more days maybe longer. 1 to 5 more days and one person would be leaving the arena. At this point it could be anyone.


	17. Chapter 17

Me and my final two allies found shelter between a wall of bushes and a large cliff near the cave entrance we had left. None of us slept that night, not because we didn't trust each other but because we were too stressed out to. Tyne was torn apart because she felt like it was supposed to be her that died not River. She blamed his death on herself and was constantly crying. Phoenix couldn't relax because he kept twitching everytime he heard a noise. Fearing for me he would grab a knife only to realized it was just an animal or a rustle of bush in the wind. Finally the day pulled forth and everything that seemed sinister turned innocent in the day light.

"We should start moving and looking for those other tributes. We have six to find and kill then-" Just like Raider he didn't finish his sentence.

"Maybe we should split up?" Tyne suggested "We could cover more ground."

After much consideration we realized she was right. We poured all our items out and divided them equally before we each took our own restocked bag. I left with my weapons in my suits weapon belt and my bag on my back. I had emptied my arrows into one sheeth and slung it over my shoulder keeping one arrow readied in my bow.

I had 6 people to kill off. I didn't even take one step when I launched my bow at the male from District 4 and his ally from District 8. They dropped like stones and then two blasts went off making their deaths official. Scratch that I now had 5 to get rid of.

I made my way down a path and came out into a clearing suddenly everything around me was active. Tyne and Phoenix were in a battle against a female from District 6 and the Male from District 11. I brought out an arrow from my sheeth and loaded my bow before I sent an arrow at the male. It hit him in the back just as he flicked a knife at Tyne.

Tyne took the knife that was sticking in her chest and gave it a tug before she dropped it to the ground. I saw her eyes flicker up at me and then she dropped to the ground. A blast was heard and I knew she was dead. Phoenix picked up the knife that had killed Tyne and threw it at the male from 11 who dropped to the ground and gasped for air until Phoenix stabbed him again. A blast called his death and then we moved on.

Two males and myself left. A male from 10 and Phoenix. We paired up again because Phoenix didn't want to leave my side. We grabbed Tyne's bag and decided to find some shelter for the night and start again tomorrow. We walked the hour hike back to the cave where River killed off Essence and Rayda had drowned. After several moments of silence Phoenix and I pulled out the food and began hacking things together for dinner. We ate in silence.

Dark fell hard and it began storming causing the cave to flood worse then the other day. We retreated to the top of the rock were we had our breakfast that day in the cave and zipped all three of the sleeping bags together and the zipped it up creating one large sleeping bag instead of a blanket. We got inside and tucked the top over. Since it was storming we weren't worried about being found atleast for the night.

"Some game huh" Phoenix whispered to me.

"Some game" I repeated back to him.

After staring into each others eyes for several minutes Phoenix spoke. "Maybe we should just call it quits and stay here forever. We have everything we could possibly need, food, warmth, shelter, each other." He finished.

I shook my head almost immediately. "I promised my father I'd try my best to come home."

Great, nice way of wording it. It practically sounded like I just promised to kill him off. Well I hoped that I didn't have to kill him, I was counting on the male from 10 to do that. I could easily kill 10 but I couldn't kill Phoenix.

"You will keep your promise." He began. "Tomorrow we will go searching for the other tribute, we will kill him and then you will kill me got it." He told me.

I shook my head. "I'm not going to kill you." I told him.

"Do it for your father, your mom, your brother."

I shook my head and closed my eyes. If he wouldn't end the conversation I would just go to sleep. After several minutes I was out like a light bulb. Just like he promised he woke me, we ate half of the fruits we had left and then set out. We walked on for half the day before we settled for lunch. We cooked the rest of the fish and ate it before we drank water rested for some time and then moved on.

We walked on well past dinner, neither of us was hungry so we continued searching. We went well into the night using our night vision glasses and eventually called it a night. We went into the sleeping bag and I slept while Phoenix took gaurd for the first few hours. When we switched out it was almost dawn. Phoenix slept for several hours before he was awaken by my jostling to get out of the bag. I quickly retrieved my bow to defend myself against a threatening approach that turned out to be just a small deer who seemed to be frightened and wounded. As it turned around I noticed a knife in its side.

"He's near" I whispered to Phoenix who rose to his feet and pulled out a blugeon object.

Before I could blink a sharp pain filled my shoulder and I screamed. I turned around and was face to face with a small boy who looked about my age but a inch taller. I took several feet back and reached to feel my shoulder a blade was sticking in me. I gritted my teeth and pulled it from my arm before I threw it into the bushes.

Phoenix pounced on the small boy and they began wrestling on the ground. For being small the boy was hard to pin down. He drew another knife from his person and stabbed Phoenix in the chest. I screamed and picked up my bow before pulling an arrow out of the sheeth and shot him in the head. The blast went off before he even hit the ground. Groaning in pain Phoenix tried sitting up but he couldn't.

I lowered my bow to the ground and knelt beside him. He was loosing blood fast and I couldn't help him.

"Please don't die on me I need you." I said to him. A tear fell from my eye and landed on his face.

He reached his hand up and touched my face. "You never needed me, you are strong on your own. You made it."

"Your still alive." I pointed out.

He shook his head. "I am going home soon and so will you." His eyes seemed to loose focus before he sighed. "It's nice to see you Ember. Have you come to take me home." He reached his hand up and touched something I couldn't see and smiled.

"Who are you talking to?" I asked him.

"Ember" he sighed. suddenly his hand felt and a blast was heard. He was gone.


	18. Chapter 18

I sat by his body until I heard the sound of the craft above. I walked ten paces to my left and watched as the giant claw came and took the bodies of 11 and Phoenix away. The minute the craft disappeared a voice spoke.

"Congratulations on your victory but I'm afraid your time in the arena is not yet over. A few rules have been broken on your part, the sentence is death"

I scrunched my face up trying to understand what I had done wrong that was so bad that I was to be murdered. "What did I do?" I shouted back to the skies.

"That doesn't matter, what is done is done." the voice replied

So I won but I am going to die a anyways. Sorry I couldn't keep my promise dad.

"The sentence is death but instead we have decided to allow you a chance to play for your life-" Wasnt I already doing that, and hadnt I won? "-Out of respect for your loss we are throwing out the absolute death penalty and adding in 12 more tributes who volunteered to join you."

Who would volunteer when there was nothing worth dying for?

"Please prepare for the arrival of the Careers from the Districts 1, 2, and 4."

"But that's only 6!" I shouted back

A short but audible laugh was heard before the voice spoke again. "Silly me I forgot to mention we have specially picked 6 people just for you as allies to make it a semi fair game they should be arriving any moment. You have 5 hours before the careers arrive. Good luck" the voice disappeared.

Just as it promised a hovercraft appeared above me and a large clear box was being lowered. The only thing I could make out for several moments were their feet until they were in the ground.

I only knew one person and she was from District 12- Lia. I ran forward and threw my arms around her and began crying.

"What are you doing here!" I screamed at her. "Why did you volunteer?"

She shook her head. "I didn't volunteer I was taken from school and thrown on a train they didn't even tell me what was going on until I was being placed in the box."

I tilted my head upwards. "You have no right to do this! Take them back and just kill me! Kill me just let them go home!" I screamed.

No answer, of course. Stupid Capitol. I took a deep breath to center myself. I gathered the bags and walked around giving two tributes one each.

"If we are going to have any chance we need to find food, water and shelter. I need to know what all you saw on those televisions?"

"We saw everything even when you disappeared into the sleeping bag with my brother" a boy spoke.

My head turned up to look for the owner of the voice and found him near the back.

"Who are you?" I asked him as I walked forward.

"My name is Blaze I'm the brother of Phoenix and Ember, District 2." he finished.

I was about to reply to him when a voice said 'tick-tock'. I nodded my head and led the group on. We needed to find shelter or at least a good place to set up snares and traps to guard our perimeter.

"How much time left?" Lia asked as we passed the tree where I killed the man from district 5.

"I don't know two-three hours at the most."

A light skinned girl walked past me into the clearing and looked up towards the sun for a few moments before she returned to the group.

"We have 3 hours and 12 minutes"

"How do you know?" I asked her.

She introduced herself. She was Oreale from District 9. They specialized in grains. Oreale worked in the fields as a sower, she learned to tell time by the suns place in the sky.

We continued in walking across the clearing, past the Cornucopia and into the trees on the other side. Slowly our time trickled away. Three hours turned to two when we stopped. By a large cliff was a bush but it wasn't big enough to conceal us all.

"What are we going to do?" Lia panicked. "we are going to die aren't we?"

I did my best to sooth her. Let's just sit and rest for a few minutes I told them. We sat against the wall and began eating a fruit. Suddenly Lia screamed and jumped to her feet.

"I felt something touch me" she gasped.

I got carefully to my knees and investigated a small gust of cool air was coming from a space in the cliff.

"Hand me a pair of goggles quick!" I said

Seconds later a pair of the night vision glasses were in my hand. I placed them over my eyes and looked inside. It was a cave a small cave, shelter.

"You found it Lia, you found shelter."

I called forward the biggest person to see if he could fit in and he was able to slid in with minimum difficulty. After him the rest of us slid in. It was small and we wouldn't be sleeping laying down but scrunched up. I didnt care as long as I had shelter. I passed out night vision glasses to my group so we could all see and then we just waited. According to Oreale the Games was starting.

That night we had our first scare when we heard foot prints nearing. I held up my finger and told them not to move. As well I covered Lia's mouth with my hands.

I watched as a female stuck her face down by the crack. She looked right at me but only I saw her. She got to her feet and ran off with her ally whining about them not giving them night vision glasses. Once we were sure they were gone I let out a breath and dropped my hands from Lia's mouth.

"They don't have goggles" I told them. "There is our angle"


	19. Chapter 19

I woke the next morning startled that we had all fallen asleep. I quickly took off the glasses that were obscuring my vision and put them in the bag. I let everyone else sleep for a while as I pondered on our next moves. It was 7 simple kids standing against 6 careers that I bet were atleast 16 or 17, our chances were dramatically low but not impossible.

We have a little bit of food remaining and we would need to go out and search for more really soon. Our water supplies were used up but I knew where water was but it was atleast a little over an hour walk to get to it. We had a few challenges but with the right skills we could over come them. I needed to find out our groups strengths and weaknesses and use them to our advantage. I woke the others and just like myself they quickly put away the glasses.

"I know this may sound awkward but we need to get to know one another. I want your name, district and what skill or skills you may posses that would benefit the group. Also if you want you can throw a little extra out there about yourself. " I decided in order to gain their trust I would go first. "I'm Aloe from District 12. I'm good at hunting, cooking and telling apart some edible plants." I cleared my throat. "I watched my brother die almost three days ago"

Lia went next. It wasn't a shocker to me when she said she didn't have any skills. Maybe I could teach her to cook. She told everyone she was from District 12 and then perceeded to announce that she would be dead if it wasn't for me stepping forward to volunteer as tribute.

After Lia was finished Blaze went next. He was from District 2. His skill was starting fires and he admitted he got into trouble alot from it. He then explained that his two older siblings had died in the games so it was only a matter of time.

After him was the female Oreale from 9 who's skills were telling the time from the sun and identifying plants. She admitted that she stepped up for her sister who was originally pulled to come into the games.

The other three were a male from District 6 who was good with navigation. A female from 11 who was was a skilled healer and also was experienced with finding herbs and plants that had medical purposes. The final was a male from 7 who was a large huskey fellow who worked with trees and building cabins.

After my crew assesment I found it best to go out in groups. Those that were useful for that task that needed to be taken care of would go with us. First off we need supplies. Wood wouldn't be needed since we wouldn't be risking fires. I decided to take the girls from 11 and 9 and the male from 6. After that was settled we were on our way. I had my bow at the ready with the male from 6 who was a fair shot with knife throwing. We covered the girls from 11 and 9 as they gathered edibles and plants that could be used for medicinal purposes. After an hour of finding supplies we headed back with the guidence of 6.

One by one we made it back to the hole and slipped in. The moment I sat down I brought my hand to my head. We forgot water and without it all of us would become dehydrated and grow weak. We needed water as much as we needed air. My crew saw the stress on my face and knew something was wrong.

"What is it?" Blaze spoke up.

"Water... we need water."

Oreale came up with the idea that we could go during the night time. We were the only ones that had night vision glasses - or atleast that is what we gathered from the surprise from last night. She thought it would be good to head back to the river and refill our canteens. After the agreement we put together a crew who would go along on the trip. Blaze, the girl from 11, myself the male from 7. That left the two girls and the male from 6 alone. They would be safe if they kept a few weapons on hand. Still then their chances of being found were slim in the dark.

We threw together some fruits for lunch and while we ate we discussed a few scenarios. Blaze came up with the idea of leaving a trail of sunburst leaves, they were easy to ignite. If we were being chased Blaze could easily ignite them and create a barrier between us that would give us some time to get away.

After many props given for his idea of defence he admitted to us that Blaze was a nickname he was given because of his nack of setting fires. Just like his brother who was named Phoenix from his childhood because he got terribly sick alot and came so close to death on several occasions and then miraculously came back. Ember was given hers because her face flushed red like embers when she was angry, sad, happy or embarressed.

After the sun disappeared and the darkness fell my crew put on their glasses and we silently slipped from the cave. The moment we exited and were vulnerable we froze. We were surrounded.


	20. Chapter 20

I stood froze with my crew at my sides. There were four of us and the three in the cave. If they defeated us they would know where our others were at and they would be dead within seconds.

"What do we do?" Blaze asked.

Before I could even think about what to do the tribute from 7 ran forward with his weapon of choice, two machette's. I watched as the pack of mutated mutts launched themselves forward. One by one they fell until there was only one left. The final mutt tackled 7 to the floor and they wrestled around until it bit him on the arm. With a loud shout of pain 7 quickly slit the mutts throat and rose to his feet cradling his arm.

The girl from 11 ran forward and took his arm carefully into his hands.

"He's going to need to be fixed up. I need atleast 3 things to fix his arm before he goes into shock. Those mutts were poisonus."

"Am I going to die?" The tall husky man asked.

"Not if I can treat you. I have 2 of the three plants that I need the other wont be needed for atleast 4 hours after the first two have done there thing." She turned to me and I saw the seriousness on her face. "He can't continue on and nor can I we are going to have to stay back. Its up to you to get the plant I need and the water."

I felt my heart grow heavy. This was a huge burden that was just dropped onto my shoulders. If I didn't do it I would lose a member and my team would grow immensly weaker. Two of my members were immobile so it was just me and Blaze that would be able to continue on. I considered for a moment taking 6 but he was the only other one fit enough to protect the rest and I couldn't leave them without protection.

"What does it look like?" Blaze said as he stepped forward.

"You need to look for the blue cherries. They are not like the red ones they aren't grown like normal cherries. They are found in pods on vines that wrap themselves around the trees that stand to the right of the blue strawberry bushes." How many blue fruits were in this arena? "There will be two trees by every blue strawberry bush, the one with fruit to the left are poisonus so leave them be, the ones to the right are safe."

I nodded my head and went over everything she said in my mind trying to keep up and then I waited for them to go back into the cave. Turning to Blaze I nodded my head and we started forward.

"Do you think we will make it?" Blaze asked me.

I didn't respond because at this very moment it could go both ways. After we walked quickly to check the perimeter Blaze showed me quickly what leaves to place and where. He made an few intricate designs with the leaves that made a short 3 foot trail outward and then we headed off.

"What was that?" I asked him.

"If I need to light it up it will look like its an actual spreading fire and not just a wall. The flame made from the leaves burn in place for up to 2 hours."

How does he know all this? In the end I didn't care I just wanted to find what we needed get our water and get back into the safety of the cave.

A rustle of some near bushes grabbed my attention and I moved closer. Hidden in the bushes was small mutt like the ones that attacked us. I quickly slit its throat and left it there. We walked to the edge of the forest and saw the clearing with the Cornucopia in the middle. It seemed too quiet but with my glasses I was able to see the careers moving about keeping gaurd while a few others slept. I looked to Blaze and he nodded confirming that he saw the same thing.

"So whats the plan?" He asked me.

I searched the center and began counting heads. Two stood gaurd with their weapons and two slept. There were two missing and they could be anywhere.

"I say we skim along the outskirts of the trees, it'll give us some cover and take us straight to the other side. Just keep doing your thing and keep low and alert."

We headed off along the trees and stopped when we heard voices. Crouching low behind a bush we listened.

"I don't understand why we don't just kill the other careers off and head out on our own." A female's voice spoke.

"You know why? There are 7 more others to kill. When there are two left from the other side then we will kill them and finish this." The boy replied.

"Well you better hope they don't kills us before we kill them its been a long time before 4 has had a champion this time around we will win." The girl finished.

I looked at the ground and saw them, snares. I looked around me and saw the entire area looked to be boobytrapped. There was no way around this from the ground. I nudged Blaze and pointed up. Carefully I rose to my feet and adjusted my things so I could silently scale up the tree. Blaze followed and we stood in the tree and began looking around for what branches to maneuvere along to get across and away. Slowly and as quietly as possible we moved from branch to branch. I lost my balance and caught myself rustling the branches of the trees above the careers.

The got to their feet and held their weapons at the tree.

"Do you think its them?" The male asked.

"No they would have attacked by now." the girl asked.

"Unless they have no weapons." he defended.

"We were briefed before we entered the arena. They have weapons. Its probably just an animal or something."

A idea came to my mind and I jostled the branches again and made an animal noise that the ones tree rats made. Blaze made a hissing noise and then another jostle of the branch.

"Told ya its just a stupid animal." The girl said.

They took their seats and I smiled satisfied with myself. We carefully moved on and eventually made it far enough away to drop from the trees to the ground and continue on.

"Why didn't you attack them?" Blaze asked me.

"We don't have time or man power to attack right now. The other careers were feet away and would be on us faster than a starved child on rice." He nodded and we continued on.

Within 20 minutes we heard the sound of the rushing water. Stopping we looked at one another before we laughed and took off at a run to the water. Taking off the back pack that carried the canteens I handed it to Phoenix, and he gave me the empty one for gathering the fruits.

"You get the water and I'll get the fruits it will save time." I said.

Taking the bag I headed to the spot where I remembered the strawberries were and looked up just like 11 said there were two trees one to the right and one to the left. I took to the one on the right and searched for a pod. My fingers found one almost immeadiately and I pulled it from its vine that wrapped around the trees trunk. Splitting open one of the pods I checked out the fruit it held, blue cherries. Smiling to myself I put them in the bag and began picking the vine free from the pods. After I collected them I moved back to the bush that held the straw berries and began carefully pulling the ones that were connected to the spotted leaves. Soon I had near 40 berries and then went back to the tree to retreive the fruit from is branches. These were blue apples. I loved apples and went to take a bite from one when a knife stabbed into it and knocked it from my hand. I quickly pulled my bow and aimed only to see it was Blaze.

I dropped down from the tree. "What was that for?"

"Those are poisonus." He said pointing to the ground where an animal took a bite from the apple and fell over. "Those are the ones you want" he said pointing to the apples in the tree to the left.

"Those are poisonus." I told him. He shook his head.

"Trust me I've fished near area's with these trees."

We headed over to the tree and gathered the apples from its branches before we collected more mint leaves and 3 other fruits and then headed back. We neared the drop off point were we came down from the trees and I stopped.

"We need to find a different way back. Maybe the back way."

We peered through the bushes that was near the clearing and counted the tributes. The were all accounted for but there was still the problem of the snares. We came up with a plan to draw attention to the snare and then take off through the clearing running as fast as we could to the other side. Once we got to the trail of the sunburst leaves Blaze would start a fire that would become a barrier.

I took from my bag an apple and stabbed it with an arrow before I set it up to shoot. I aimed for the snare that was set up 15 feet from our point and shot it. With a loud bang it went off. Just as expected all six of the careers headed in the sound of the snare. Slinging my bow back over my shoulder Blaze and I set off at a run through the clearing. As we barely passed the cornucopia I heard a female voice shout. Soon they were on our tails.

The careers were 10 feet behind us. I saw Blaze adjust the back pack as he ran and pull out two stones before he threw the bag over the trail and stop to kneel down to hit the rocks together.

"Get the stuff inside" he shouted.

Before I could pick up the bags a flame began. Just like Blaze said the fire kept the careers at bay. He caught up with me as I brought the bags inside. The moment I entered I saw just how bad the bite had affected 7. He was sweating bullets and his skin had a odd colored tinge to it and he had bits of foam coming from his mouth.

"I- I got the blue cherries" I said as I dug in the bag and handed 11 the pod.

She thanked me and opened it it before she ripped off the meat of four cherries and took the pits.

"You need to swallow these" She said as she placed them in his mouth.

I gave her some water and she took off the lid and helped him drink some. After a few minutes of trying to get them into his system he finally swallowed them. 11 turned to me and thanked me for going out for her. After keeping a close eye on 7 we saw he started to improve from his previous state. I was glad I took the time to grab extra food because he was unable to travel for atleast 3 days. For now we will keep it low profile. Every few hours one of us went out and threw some more sunburst leaves on the fire to keep it burning and then returned.

As the sun came down that night I sat outside the cave eating a blue apple. I missed my family and I wondered what my parents thought about the Capitol throwing me back into the game with 6 careers even though I won. I hoped that they wouldn't do anything crazy to get them in trouble. I looked upwards and smiled.

"I love you mom, dad" I paused for a moment. "And Phoenix." After finishing my apple I threw the core into the bushes and slipped back inside the cave. "I'll keep gaurd the rest of you get some sleep okay."

"I'll take the next shift" Lia said. "It's the least I could do since I am of no real help."

I hugged her and brought her into my arms before I let her sink in between 11 and 9. Oreale pulled her to her side and put the sleeping bag over them before they dozed off.

I needed to keep myself busy. I needed to be on my feet. Grabbing my bow and sheeth I headed out to do some hunting and pick some more sunburst leaves. I thought it'd be a good idea to keep a stash of them at hand incase we needed them. As I walked 3 feet I heard a rustle and got to my feet arming myself.

"Who are you come out and I won' t kill you" I said in a steady voice.

I watched carefully as a tall female with long brown hair came forward she was carrying in her right hand a trident and clear in a sheeth on her back were several more.

"My name is Aqua Odair from District 4 and I'm going to kill you." She said with a devilish smirk.

Suddenly she dropped to to her knees and a loud bang sounded. She was dead, but how? I turned around and saw Lia shaking. I walked over to her and rubbed her shoulders to try and calm her.

"I- I- I-" she tried to speak but stuttered.

Several heads popped out of the cave and moved to our side. Apparently everyone was curious as to why Lia had left the cave so fast and now they knew why.

"It's okay." I finally told her.

I sent everyone back into the cave. Blaze who didn't listen moved forward to kneel beside the body of the girl.

"I recognize her. She's the daughter of Finnick and Annie Odair. Finnick recently became Mayor of District 4." He let out a nervous chuckle. "Good thing I'm not returning to four or he would name me a traitor and have me burned alive."

I walked forward a bit. "Why aren't you going back? Surely you have as good a chance of winning as everyone else."

He shook his head. "We know the Capitol had no right to restart this you won your life. We all agreed that we would protect you till the end, no one objected. Not even myself. At the end of this game you are going home." Blaze said to me.


	21. Chapter 21

Blaze and I had stripped Aqua of her weapons and quickly moved back into the cave so that they could collect her body. Lia was in tears and required a long talk filled with words of comfort to calm her down. This was her first kill and she was obviously taking it hard. After talking to her Lia explained that she had just woke when she heard Aqua's threatening words and panicked.

Her first instinct was to protect me like I did her and threw a knife at her with all the strength she could. It was a good enough throw to cut the first few layers of skin but what really did the trick was the poison that was on the knife. The knife she cut Aqua with was the knife that Blaze had used to knock the poisonus fruit from my hands the previous night. After that knowledge surface we quickly disposed of the knife.

Oreale had just returned from putting some more sunburst leaves on the flames and sat outside the small entrance of the cave to catch what little breeze she could.

"So just out of curiosity when can we go hunt the careers?" she asked.

I didn't even bother answering her question because she was there when 11 explained that 7 was temporarily immobile. If we went now we wouldn't stand a chance. Though I had to admit, 7 looked a lot better then the previous night and that was a relief. He currently sat out by a tree shaving a branches tip down to create a spear. With the muscles he had from moving lumber he was an excellent throw. Admittedly he revealed that the only weapon he was good with was a spear. This gave me an idea, a trident was like a three headed spear so maybe he could use those.

I gave him Aqua's tridents and he began playing around with them. After a few hours he was on point. That evening we had some fruit again and after several complaints of the diet we agreed to try and get some hunting done so we could have some meat. We would all go on this trip because it was time to relocate. After the chase the previous night it was clear the careers now knew what area we were bunkering down in and were probably putting together some sort of plan to try and flush us out into the open.

From where we were I had 6 climb up the rocks to see our location and he had discovered on the other side was river and by the river was a long range of cliffs. He thought maybe we could move down to there but I was really unsure about it. It seemed too easy to get to. By nightfall we decided that it would be best to try and get back across the field past the Cornucopia and head to the cave that I had inhabited for two days.

We snuggled up in the caves waiting for the Anthem to play. The moment we did we stuck our heads out just in time to see Aqua's picture pop up and then flicker away. I saw several birds take to the sky very suddenly in the distance and knew only a loud noise could do that. I bet that was her team mate screaming in fury.

After the sky darkened we ducked back into the cave and went to sleep. I woke from the night as I heard several angry voices coming closer into range. Sitting upright I began shouting to wake everyone up. We gathered our things and stepped outside of the cave just in time to see the flames of our fire wall flicker its last flame then die out all together. Standing on the other side holding weapons was the careers.

I grabbed Lia's hand and we took off running, my crew quickly following on my tails. A whistling sound filled the air and a spear stabbed into the tree inches from my head. Blaze made it to my side and suddenly fell to the ground as a career tackled him. Striking his rocks together quickly a spark began and lit the leaves around him, himself and the career on fire.

The career wasn't smart enough to remember to stop drop and roll but Blaze did it at once and was free of the burning flames. Getting to his feet he caught up with us and we continued on. I turned my head one last time to see the other 4 careers throw him on the ground and roll him back and forth to put out the flames.

We rounded a corner and found ourselves near the stream that gave us shelter. I pointed to the cliff and we quickly climbed. We made it to the top and ducked into the cave I stayed in on my first night in the arena just in time to see the careers come into view. Pushing ourselves back into the cave we waited. I leaned towards the edge and spotted them, they were looking around and even looked up in our direction. 11 quickly pulled me back.

"They can't see us, they don't have glasses that is why they couldn't keep up with us." I reassured her.

She let me go and the rest of us leaned towards the edge quietly. They seemed to be heading off in another direction. Oreale began to get figity when she spoke of needing the restroom. I handed her a pair of glasses and a knife and let her go. We watched her skim down the rocks to the ground and go over to a bush. Before she could reach a tall career ran up behind her and grabbed her. Her scream bringing me chills.

I watched as the career threw her to the ground and climbed on top of her before he began cutting her all over. Each cut resulted in a scream of pain. I wanted to help her but I knew that the other careers were probably nearby and waiting for us to give our position away. Sure I knew they couldn't see us but by the direction of an arrow in its victim they can easily tell from where it was shot or atleast grab a hint of the area. I just hoped he would end her life soon so she would be out of pain.

Then I remembered the night vision glasses Oreale was wearing. Squinting in the dark I spotted them on the ground. Only if I could destroy them without giving away our position. Then again, maybe I could. I grabbed my bow and sheeth and carefully made my way down the same way Oreale did but much more quietly. I edged along until I was shielded by some bushes and began making sure the area was clear before I launched an arrow into the careers shoulder he dropped his knife and I ran over to collect it and toss it into the river before I reloaded my arrow.

"You, over there and I will spare your life a second longer." He obeyed and I knelt down carefully beside Oreale. She was bleeding through over several cuts and gashes along her body but they weren't that bad. The one that I was more worried about was the cut in her throat, by the looks of it he hadn't finished.

She reached up and took my hand and pushed my bow against her chest right at her heart. She wanted me to kill her. I quickly moved my bow away but she began begging.

"Please" she mumbled in a raspy voice. "Sp much pain." she managed to say before a long squirt of blood sprayed from her wound all over my suit. Suddenly her wound opened up and her blood poured out in a continuos stream down to the ground. Soon a pool of red circled her body.

Within a minute a loud bang sounded and I knew she was gone. I leaned forward and closed her eyes so it looked like she was sleeping and rose to my feet. The moment I turned around I knew something was wrong. The boy who had attacked her was gone. To my left I heard it, several feet running in my direction. I looked to the ground and kicked the glasses into the stream and watched them float away before I took off at a run.

I managed to scale a tree a few hunder yards down the river and mellow out my breathing by the time they caught up. They didn't know I could climb or I bet they would have found me quickly. They listened, looked around and even peered in some nearby bushed before they headed off.

It took me a moment to realize that I was seperated by my pack and was fending for myself now. If I survived this it would be a miracle. I wondered if they would find me or even bother looking for me. All I knew was they were sitting ducks and I was a deer being hunted.


	22. Chapter 22

I spent the night in that tree I hid in and when the sun had started to rise I took off to the cave that I had left my crew at. I was determined to make sure Lia was okay and the rest of the members as well. I slid down from the tree and landed on my feet before I prepped my bow and headed out towards the closest land mark I knew that would take me to them, the river. Within five short minutes I located it and headed back.

I stopped after several minutes from exhaustion. I had no water and no food and hadn't had any since the last time I ate which I wasn't sure when that had been. I was tempted to drink some of the river water but I knew it wouldn't stay down for even a minute. I had no way to purify anything so the most I could do was suck juice from berries and chew on some bark. I knew I needed to get back as soon as possible.

After my 15 rest I had to take a dip in the river. Without stripping down from my clothes I waded in up to my waist and dunked my head under. The moment my head was submerged I knew I shouldn't have done it. It was blazing hot and it getting myself wet was going to make it 10x worse for me.

The moment I came out of water I felt it. The hot sun was attacking my skin sucking up the water faster than I had gotten wet. If I made it back I'd be burnt the next morning. I needed to move on before it was hit noon, that is when the heat is the most intense because the sun is high up.

I walked on and by 11:30 I was near ready to faint. I remember taking one step and then everything went black for I don't know how long. I felt so vulnerable. If another career came through they could easily take me out. I looked around and I could easily see the cave. Maybe if I could get a signal to them. I just needed something reflective. I searched my person and found the only reflective thing I had, my mockingjay pin.

I shifted it to try and catch a few rays and managed to steal a couple. I tried my best to send them shining up to the cave to grab my team members attention. This attempt went on for what felt like an hour. Suddenly I realized that they could've left the cave and could be miles away from now. If they left I was good as dead, no food no water and only my boy to protect myself.

I felt the heat take the best of me and I flashed my pin once more before I felt myself sink into the darkness. If a career wanted to kill me they could do it now. My thoughts went to my family, my mom and my dad. I felt bad that I was going to fail them and break my promise. I wouldn't make it home. I was going to die right here and every person in Panem was going to watch it happen.

Slowly I lifted my my hand and pressed my three center fingers to my lips and rose them to the sky before I blacked out. Some how I was unconscious but at the same time I was able to hear everything around me.

I heard someone approach me and I knew I was dead. Suddenly I was lifted from the hard ground beneath me and I felt as whoever lifted me was carrying me somewhere. Please just kill me fast I don't want my parents to see me suffer anymore then they have too.

I felt my body be adjusted before I felt like I was being bounced around. Moments later I was on my back again and I heard several other voices. I felt water on my face. Water being poured into my mouth and then a mix of what smelled like herbs being literally shoved down my throat. Seconds later I was out.


	23. Chapter 23

I woke up and all around me was dark. Where were my night vision glasses? I sat up and suddenly I felt hands on me. I wanted to scream but some how I wouldn't allow myself to show I was afraid. If they kept me alive this long they probably wouldn't kill me if I did what they said.

After I was sure I wasn't going to scream I finally spoke up. "Where am I?"

"Where do you think" I heard Lia speak. She quickly placed a pair of glasses on my eyes and I was able to see her. "We thought we'd never see you again." She said before bringing me into a hug.

"How did you find me? Did you see the signal I sent you all?" I asked curiously.

Lia shook her head. "We didn't know you sent a signal. Blaze was down refilling our canteens and getting some berries for us and he saw a body on the ground. He then realized it was you and brought you back."

I reached forward and picked up a water cateen and drank from it. It was nice and refreshing after all those hours without any. After I got my fill I set it down and grabbed a berry and took a bite from it. "So anyone else die?" I asked. I already knew the answer before I heard it. No. "How is 7 doing?"

"I'm doing fine. I am ready to get this game over with." He replied. "You call me Douglas, you know like the Douglas Fir." He cracked his knuckles. "I was named after it."

"We can go after we rest for atleast another day or two. I'm not gonna lie but I am tired."

"I wouldn't be surprised you've been out for atleast 2 days." Douglas replied.

I looked around in disbelief. Was I really out for 2 days? I felt exhausted, and famished. After finishing my fruit I reached forward to feel for another before I brought it to my lips to take a bite. I began taking in my surroundings. We were in the cave and atleast 3 were missing.

"Where are the others?" I asked curiously as I rose carefully to my feet and headed towards the back of the cave to sit by Blaze.

"They are out scouting the enemy camp, 6 and 11." He replied.

"They should be careful, tell me they took weapons."

I saw Blaze take one look at the pile of weapons and knew they were unarmed. I reached forward and grabbed a few weapons before I slung my bow and sheeth over my shoulders and headed to the mouth of the cave.

"Where are you going?" Blaze asked as he grabbed my arm.

"Where do you think?" I wrenched my arm from his grip and scaled down the from the cave.

I turned and looked back at the cave and saw without a doubt the rest of the gang following me. By the looks of it Douglas brought the weapons and our things with him. Great...

"If you are going then so are we" Blaze said as he joined my side.

I threw my arms up and groaned. "Fine!" I gave in.

He chuckled as we headed out. "You know you are very riled up for a 12 year old."

"And what are you 12 1/2" I barked in annoyance.

"No I'm 13."

"Of course you are." I replied coldly. I quickened my step to try and put some distance between us.

He sped up to match my pace and was soon at my side again. "Why are you so angry?" he asked me.

I shook my head not even wanting to speak. I didn't want to talk to him right now. He grabbed my arm and pulled me to a stop and forced me to look into his eyes.

"Because you let them leave without weapons."

"I didn't do anything. They are not my responsibility regardless. My responsibility is to make sure you get out of here _alive_. Nothing more nothing less."

I sighed before I simply nodded my head and then walked on. The rest of the hour walk went on nice and quickly and to my luck silent. We caught up to the rest of the group who were up in a tree spying on the Careers.

After 3 hours of survalience my allies noticed the careers functioned on a schedule that went in intervals of 3 hours. one pair would sleep for 3 hours, another two gaurded and another 2... or in this case one would upate the traps. After everyone had gotten a chance to do the 3 shifts they'd go out and hunt for us while one person stayed and gaurded the camp.

"They should be switching shiffts about... now" 11 said to me.

Just as she predicted the two careers that were sleeping sat up as if they had an alarm set and rose to their feet. Like a robot they moved to grab their weapons and then went on gaurd shift while the tribute from 4 took his spot in the sleep area and went to sleep. Those that had been on gaurd previously were now out securing the traps that gaurded the camp.

"In 3 hours they will be hunting for us so we better put some distance between ourselves and them." 6 added.

"Back to our old camp or move on?" I asked them.

"We should move on, its not good to stay in one place too long." Lia said.

She was right. They could be closing in on our camp any moment now so it was time to go. There was one place other than that cave and the last that I knew was safe enough to stay.


	24. Chapter 24

We were heading back away from their camp when we stopped. The Careers stood right before us and they were just staring in disbelief. Before I could shout run to my group Blaze grabbed my arm and we began running. The rest of the group was still behind us.

"Wait!" I screamed at him as he towed me in the direction of the river. "Wait! Lia is still back there we need to go." Suddenly 6 loud bangs were heard. I froze before I began trying to head back in the direction.

"No! You'll get yourself killed." He began.

I kept trying to get back past him before he pushed me up against a rock and shook me roughly. "LISTEN TO ME!" He screamed in my face. "If you go back there you are dead. Is that what your friend would want?"

I looked at him and I could feel my face flush as tears coated the rims of my eyes. I took a deep breath and then shook my head once. Suddenly loud panicked foot steps could be heard. My eyes widened before I covered the final 3 feet to the the rocks and began edging my way towards the hole that led to the cave that was flooded the day we became its inhabitants.

"Where are you going?!" Blaze said hastily.

"Just come on and hurry before someone see's you." I replied back as I disappeared into the crack.

The cave wasn't as flooded as it had been the last time we were here. The water was low enough that it only went up to the middle of my chest. Still as Blaze appeared by myside he lifted me over his shoulder like I was a rag doll and helped me across the cave to the dry ground.

The moment we settled down we knew something wasn't right. Then it hit me. Our weapons were with the Careers, everything but my bow and sheeth. Our food was gone as well. I quickly rose to my feet once I heard heavy footsteps nearing the hidden entrance to the cave and loaded my arrow. Just then Douglas appeared. I carefully let my bow down and pulled the arrow before putting it back in my sheeth.

"I almost shot you" I told him as he made his way over to us. Where is everyone else? Did anyone follow you? How did you escape?" I asked him as he sat down beside us and dropped the bags containing our weapons, items and food onto the rock.

"6 were killed back there. Lia, 6, and 11 and then 3 from the Careers I don't know which ones." I felt like someone was squeezing the life out of my hands. Lia's death was my fault, I left her there. "I took out 3 of the careers with my spears and then split as they other 3 were taking their sweet time in making the others deaths 'special' I saw what they did to Lia. They were carving her up the moment I took off running and then I heard a bang and realized what happened." Tears came quickly to my eyes. "But you don't have to worry no ones following us."

Suddenly Blaze jumped to his feet and slammed Douglas up against the wall of the cave. "What's your problem don't talk about Lia in front of her you see what you are doing to her." Blaze quickly released him and came to sit beside me.

Douglas came and sat down beside us where he was silent. "Hey I'm sorry kid." He said to me before he began digging in the bags for something he couldn't seem to find.

I sniffled a bit and wipe my runny nose with the hem of my shirt. "It's okay, you didn't know." I said. "How many left?" I asked him.

He held up 3 fingers and then decided against it before he let his last to fingers stand up as well. I understood what he meant there. After the careers were finished they both would have to kill themselves and then I'd be free to go home.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked them.

Douglas looked up and shrugged his shoulders. "We weren't supposed to survive anyhow not like its a choice you know. We will die either way. Our job the very reason we are here is to keep you alive. If you die then we die whether it be at the hands of the Careers or the Capitol. Those that came in here to join as you allies were never going to survive beyond that." He finished.

"That's not fair" I replied.

"Who said life was fair." He simply stated before he pulled a fruit from the bag and began eating it. "It's not like we are missing anything anyways everyone one of us were from orphanages."

"Except Lia she had her father." I replied. I then noticed what he said and turned to Blaze. "You are an orphan?" He nodded his head. "But many of you said that you had family?"

"We did have families. I know half of them from meetings when the orphanges would get together in the Capitol. That is where they dressed us up and made us look nice and then sold us to the highest bidder to be used how ever our owners wanted to use us. Oreale she always talks about her family who was killed in a fire one year. The only thing is she talks about them as if they are still alive. I myself don't like to mention my family."

I moved a bit closer to him. "Why?"

"Because my parents died because of something I did."

"What did you do?" I asked him.

"I stole food and my parents covered for me. They said they did it and they were killed for it." Blaze told me. "My oldest brother Spencer my younger brother was the first sold to the a family in the Capitol."

"You never mentioned a younger brother"

"I never mentioned alot of things." He said as he leaned forward and pulled a fruit towards him.

I looked over to Douglas. "So that means you lied to about your story?"

"Told to lie by the Capitol. We were given a note card and told to memorize it. You were never supposed to know about any of this."

I rose to my feet and headed to the larger boulder that over looked everything in the cave and sat there thinking to myself. I wanted to go home. I missed my family. My brother and _Lia._ Oh Lia why did you have to be here. Why wouldn't the Capitol just let you be. Suddenly my thoughts trailed to Lia's father. What would become of him? Would he be angry with me because I didn't save his daughter?


	25. Chapter 25

I sat up on that rock and ate when they brought me food and even got a bit of sleep before I was waken the next morning by Douglas. He said today is the big day. Apparently someone was going to go home today if everything went correctly. I ate some breakfast and then we set out heading to the spot we knew they inhabited. It was not likely that they would pick up and move since there weren't many places to go to so to the Cornucopia is where we headed.

Once we were less than 5 minutes away I moved to the trees for a better view and were their areal eyes. I gave them hand signs and whispered things to them to let them know what I saw. From one branch to the next I hopped before I was able to see them. I halted my crew and they prepared.

From my spot in the trees I counted, one, two... where is three? Before I could say anything I watched my last two allies run forward and fall into battle against the others. One of two final male tributes fell to the ground a bang sounded. Two seconds later a knife flew threw the air and struck Blaze in his back. He froze before another hit him and then one more. Then he fell to the ground and the bang announced his death. I wanted to scream but to do that would ensure my death to the 3rd hidden Career.

One more bang sounded and the final career that my two guys were battling dropped to the ground. I carefully looked around before I dropped from the tree and headed over to him.

"One more to go." I said to him.

He brought me into a hug and rubbed my back.

"One more to go then you can go home to your family." He said as he pulled me closer.

My attention was grabbed as a girl walked from the tree line. Her eyes flickered to the blood spots where her tributes had just been and then she let out a manic scream. From a holder on her back she pulled out two samari swords and did a fancy twirl with them before she ran forward.

"Get up in the tree's as high as you can go and stay there." Douglas said.

I nodded my head and ran off towards the nearest tree line before I practically flew up the tree. I made it atleast 9 feet into the nearest tree I watched the fight going on below. Douglas had to machettes at hand and was doing a dance trying to avoid getting sliced up by the razor sharp blades.

I closed my eyes several times as I feared his life was coming to an end. The fight went on for nearly an hour before he misjudged his next movement and got his arm sliced. This one let up cost him his right arm. I watched another one of the samari blades slice right threw his side. Douglas fell to the ground and was clenching the stub that was left of his arm with his left hand.

I watched as the girl climbed on top of him and began cutting him and skinning his body. After several minutes of screams from Douglas the cannon went off anouncing his death. It was apparent he bled out. The girl that had been responsible for his death was shouting at the top of her lungs.

"I didn't say you can die yet! Wake up, I'm not done with you yet." She screamed over and over as she continued to stab Douglas' lifeless body.

After 3 minutes she eventually moved so they could come collect the body. One more to go I thought to myself. I watched as the final girl that was standing in my way of freedom moved to pick up the bag of weapons that had been ours and dump them out on the ground. She picked up the final 4 knifes we had and walked over to the tree.

"Hey there my name is Harmony, I'm from District 1." She held up the knifes and smiled. "Do you wanna play?"

I reached into my sheeth and frowned. I had one arrow left.

"What's wrong?" She asked me. "No weapons?" She laughed and I felt the hairs on my arms raise up. "So I know you probably want to go home and all but I think it's only fair if we get to know each other first so I know who I am about to murder."

I stared at her in silence. Was this girl crazy? I was definitely scared out my wits. After a long minute she smiled and took a seat on the ground and began polishing off her swords to rid it of the blood residue.

"I'll go first since you are probably shy. My name is Harmony Winterson I'm from District 1 obviously." She smirked. "I'm born to Evangeline and Benedict Winterson. My father is the Mayor and my mother is a store owner she sells jewelry. I have two younger siblings a brother and sister who are twins. I am sure you remember them, Essence and Ethan." She began cleaning the machette's that Douglas had. Suddenly she stopped and looked up at me. "You killed them didn't you?" She asked me.

I looked at her and shook my head. "No I swear it wasn't me." I said as I held onto the tree for dear life.

She rose to her feet and picked up the machettes. She pointed one at me before she shook her head. "I don't believe you." She brought it to her head and touched her temple with it. "I'm going to kill you... slowly."

With all the strength she could fine she threw the machette at me. It missed by two inches and I almost fell out of the tree. The next machette hit my hand and I let go of the tree and fell to the ground. Everything was black until I came to.

A searing pain came from my hands and I turned my head and saw I was speared to the tree by a knife threw the palms of my hands. I cried out in pain and tried to breath to calm myself. I looked around to try and find the crazy woman. She was sitting on the ground playing with her knives.

I moved a bit and noticed that my weapons were still slung over my shoulder. I just needed to get lose and then if I was fast enough I would be able to take her out. I braced myself for the pain I was about to cause myself. With all the strength I could find in myself and yanked away from the trees as hard as I could and screamed as I felt my hands being torn to shreds. I was free!

I quickly reached behind my back and drew my bow before I armed it with an arrow. I watched as the girl rose to her feet and arched an arm back and released a knife that flew in my direction. I quickly aimed and released and watched as my arrow launched itself the 5 foot distance and pierced her through the chest.

Perfect shot. I looked down and realized that I too had been hit in the chest. I wrapped my hands around the knife and pulled it out before I dropped it. Not fast enough I thought to myself. I fell to the ground and stared as thing around me grew hazy. A loud bang in the distance announced the death of Harmony. Any time now... Suddenly all went black.


	26. Chapter 26

For the briefest moment I was floating above myself. My body was still, pale and lifeless as it lay on the operating table. The noises around the room consisted of a long beep and the clinking of metal as tools were layed aside.

"I need those paddles." I heard a doctor say.

Suddenly they were rubbing them together. In one swift movement I watched my body lurch from the table and then relax

"Stay with us Aloe. Come on stay with us."

I watched them go on about this for the longest time.

"Should we call it its been 4 minutes." A young doctor spoke.

"Apparently you haven't worked here long enough. If our champion dies then so do we. I have a family back home so I don't know about you but I'd like to see my wife and kids."

Of course they were only caring because their lives were on the line. If I died the Capitol had no champion and their Games would be a failure. They needed me alive.

I watched as they added more voltage to the paddles and rubbed them together before their pressed it to my chest. My body lurched again and I felt a tug before everything was black again.

I was unsure about how long it had been but when I opened my eyes I looked around. I was in a sterile smelling white room. It was empty except for the tray that stood off to the side. My throat was parched and my mouth felt chalky.

I tried to remember the last thing I remember. I was pinned to a tree with knives through my hands. I yanked my hands free causing them to be sliced open. I turned my head to look at my hands, they were perfect. My scars were gone and my skin was scrubbed erasing any sign that I had been a contestant in the games. My finger nails were filed down so my tips were rounded.

My mind finally caught up and I remembered the knife that had been in my chest. I pulled aside my gown and touched the place I knew the knife had once been. There was no scar at all. I slowly got to my feet and got dressed in my clothes before I moved from the room. I was met up by a female who was telling me to prepare for landing.

I moved over to a window and looked down. I could see the roof top of the building. The garden where my father and I talked was growing larger and large the closer we came. Then it came to the front of my mind, my brother was gone. The moment they were positioned over the building I was released.

Without looking back I ran through the doors to the stairwell and flew down the flight of stairs to the 12th floor. The room that was mine was there and I had never been happier to see it. Before I could enter the room the door opened. In the door way stood a dark skinned male with curly brown hair. My face broke into a smile as I ran forward and threw my arms around him.

"Cinna!" I cried.

He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me tighter. "Good job." he whispered to me.

The moment he let go of me I noticed behind him his team of stylists. They seemed a bit edgy and it was really awkward so I just shrugged it off. Almost at once they began their work on me as I would be going out in front of camera's for another interview of sorts.

"Where is my mom and dad?" I asked Cinna as the stylists were taking directions from his for my look.

"They are home, your brother is arriving today. Don't worry you will see them tomorrow evening." Cinna replied.

I understood what he meant. My brothers body was arriving and they would need to be there to recieve it or they would burn it and toss the ashes down the drain. I quieted down as I tried to focus my emotions and listen to what Cinna was having done to me. To my relief they darkened my hair back to its natural brownish blonde color and left my face clear with no make up. After they did my eye brows and waxed my legs I was dressed and then moved in front of a mirror.

"What did you do to me?" I asked him as I could hardly recognize myself.

"I didn't do anything to you. The capitol decided that they would _alter_ you. If I was there I would have told them to let you be."

I rose my hand to my face and touched it. "It's fine Cinna. Just going to get some taking used to."

He placed his hand on the small of my back before he led me from the room to the place where they would be doing the interview. Just like the launch room I would be risen up from a tube to a stage. I moved into the tube and held Cinna's hands until the case fell around me and I began rising. The moment I was on the stage laughing, cheering and applaudes filled the air. Down the length of the stage was a single seat.

I stared at it as I made my way slowly and shyly across the stage and took my seat. Several camera's flashed and I leaned away. Before I could adjust a guy sat before me. He was sporting an intersting green hair style..

"Welcome back Aloe." The man said to me.

I smiled and nodded my head. "Thank you"

"We all know that you were a contestant in the Games by volunteering to take your friends place. How do you feel knowing that she ended up there and died anyways?" The man asked me.

I tensed up before my mind blanked out and I felt a tear fall from my eye. "I don't like it." I said plainly.

"Do you feel like you failed as a friend?" He asked me.

I shook my head as I felt my face turn pink. "Why are you asking me this?" I said in a quiet tone.

"What about your brother?"

I shook my head. "Do I have to do this interview. I honestly do not want to talk about my family and friends."

I looked around at the crowd before my eyes found Cinna. He nodded his head gently and smiled. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before I relaxed a bit.

"My brother died protecting a girl from another district. My brother was a great person and a good brother. He was supposed to be a father, his girlfriend was pregnant but she and her family died from a gas leak in their house."

Several aws were heard in the crowd. Surprisingly the rest of the inteview passed quickly and soon I was being placed into a car and driven to the train that would take me to my District. It was a lonely night on the train but it passed quickly. The only thing I did was sleep as it seemed to pass the time by the quickest.

I didn't even bother to eat or stretch my legs as we fueled up at the halfway station. The moment I knew we were getting closer though I moved to stand before the doors. I didn't want to be on this train any longer than needed so the moment the doors open I dove out onto the platform. It took me several moments to come to my senses and get to my feet before I started looking for my family. I saw my mother and father standing off to the side and screamed as I ran to their sides.

"Mom... dad" I choaked out as I began to cry.


	27. Chapter 27

_I was back in the arena, running from the tributes trying to kill me. It was just me against 22 others. Just me. Then I was trapped, all the tributes circled around me like a pack of wolves ready to attack. The biggest of them all rose his spear and threw it. I could see it as it flew at me in slow motion before I heard someone shout. My brother appeared out of no where and put himself between me and the spear. In the next second a cannon blasted and then all around me, one by one the tributes began to disappear as if a mist evaporating before my eyes. _

_I dropped to my knees and took my brothers dead body into my arms and began crying. My brother was dead, he was gone. Just like the other tributes River began to dissolve in my arms as well. No matter how tight I gripped his body he still slipped from my fingers._

_Then I was alone._

I sat up quickly in my bead screaming, my arms flailing and my body shaking in a fit.

"RIVER!" I screamed before I could catch myself.

I looked around panting, my body soaked in sweat and tears. I was safe, I was at home. No one could hurt me I kept thinking to myself. I rose to my feet and stumbled through my dark room to try and turn on my light. Suddenly something caught my ankle and I found myself falling. My falling ended shortly when I fell into my bed stand causing everything on it to go crashing to the floor with me.

I began crying as I felt the pain in my body but I didn't care. I didn't care anymore. Suddenly my bedroom door opened and my light came on. The smell of bread wafted in my room and I knew it was my father. My mother normally smelled like pine and other forest scents.

In the next instant my father lifted me carefully from the floor and took me downstairs to where all the medical things were. Silently he sat me on the examination table and then began plucking the glass out of one of my wounds.

From the little bit of medical knowledge he learned from my mother, aunt and grandmother he was quite handy now in being a healer. Not as good as my aunt and grandmother though but sightly better then my mother.

Once I was all bandaged up my father moved me into his arms and held me. We were silent for a few minutes before I broke into tears.

"I'm so sorry daddy." I cried as I threw my arms around him. "It's my fault he is gone!" I wailed.

My father began rubbing my back as he pulled me closer. "Shhhh, no Aloe, its not your fault." he said trying to sooth me.

There were more footsteps and I looked up just intime to see my mother enter. Her eyes were red rimmed and her face puffy. In just that one glance I knew she had been crying. Nightmares again, that could explain why my father was awake. My father was the soother, though he mourned he did it differently. He expressed his emotions in his paintings.

My mother looked me right in the eye and then crossed the room to embrace both my father and I. Suddenly the room was filled not only with my cries by my mother and fathers as well. That night we didn't sleep, only cried. Early in the morning my mother left to go and do her hunting. She did this more so when she needed to keep her mind busy or whenever she wanted to cry away from eyes and ears.

Over the next few days that passed by there were nothing but interviews, photographers and crowds of people clapping everytime I walked by. They clapped because I had won. Clapping, not tears. No one in the crowds of strangers cried for the lives lost from District 12. No one cried for my brother who had died in the arena or for his would been future wife and child. They only clapped as the only happiness they saw was the happiness that benefited them. I had won meaning free food for the District. The only acception to that was family and family friends, they cried, I could spot the remanents in their eyes easily.

All together I stopped going to school because being around others was too much for me. The constant clapping, the questions about whether or not I missed my brother. I didn't want to be reminded every minute of the day that my brother was gone. That I had once been a contestant in the games that had failed to kill my parents.

Every night I woke up screaming my lungs out of crying for my brother and each time my father or mother was at my side soothing me back to sleep. Even though it was soothing, the only thing that would make things better would be if my brother was the one to hold me. But it was impossible, he was dead.

It was the longest, dreadful week since my life had started 12 years ago. The Capitol finally sent my brothers body back home and with it came the medalion that read, "_This is how we remember our past. This is how we safeguard our future"_

My mother, father and I had picked a nice spot by the river in the meadow behind our home in the Victors Village. This spot was a perfect immitation of the exact location I saw my own grave in my dream I had before my brother and I had entered the Games.  
>On the stone was the familiar hologram that was on every stonehead to those that went into the games and never came home. It showed the hologram of him in his training uniform. The picture that was shown as they were giving out scores. His face was saddened and I knew why, these pictures were taken the moment we were finished in the remake center. The news of his girlfriends pregnancy was clearly still on his mind.<p>

Under his hologram was his name and engraved near the bottom were a few words that I had helped choose.  
><em>Here lie's River Mellark, a beloved son, brother, lover and father. May his spirit never run dry in our hearts.<em>

Sure he wasn't married and his child would never be he still was just. He was my hero. My idol. Over my shoulder was my own personal bow and arrow. I took it from my shoulder and layed it over his grave. My father placed a bowl of water of and squirted some paints in it before he emptied the rest of his paint into the river and watched the colors flow down stream. Lastly was my mother who placed on his grave a her mocking jay pin that she had let me wear into the arena. After a moment of silence we left and headed back to the house.

Things were definitely going to be different. Just like the games everyday was a survival except the only person that could kill you was you.


	28. The Hunger Games  Rebirth Sequel info

**To read the sequel to my fanfiction -Through the Fire and Flames follow the link below.**

**THE HUNGER GAMES - REBIRTH**

9 years has passed for the Mellark family. Peeta, Katniss and their daughter Aloe are oblivious to the upcoming event and are once again thrust into the drama of the Hunger Games as the Quarter Quell brings forth two Champions. Who will be chosen and who will survive as the rules predict the unchanging one survivor making it out of the arena_._

_You can read it by following the link_

_ 3559696-the-hunger-games-rebirth_


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